VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Position Lowered by Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 359,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,800 shares during the quarter. VeriSign makes up approximately 3.5% of Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.40% of VeriSign worth $101,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth $2,116,154,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 208.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,324,000 after purchasing an additional 9,046 shares during the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at $944,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 16.1% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 237,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $59,272,000 after purchasing an additional 33,064 shares during the period. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 86.9% in the first quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 20,786 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 9,664 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 394,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,959,300.43. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 42,556 shares of company stock valued at $12,495,117. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.5%

VRSN opened at $304.04 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $294.11 and a 200-day moving average of $270.50.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.58 million. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup upped their price target on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research cut VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Wedbush increased their price target on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.00.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.