Saudi Central Bank Boosts Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Saudi Central Bank lifted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 87.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,777 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,697 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after purchasing an additional 321,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after buying an additional 496,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush upped their target price on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $282.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $25.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.61 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $280.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $270.21.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. Analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total value of $140,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,752,855.72. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.78, for a total transaction of $145,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 33,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,710,598.10. The trade was a 1.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,918,308 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.