Amiral Gestion Takes Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Amiral Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 30,474 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,000. VeriSign comprises about 4.0% of Amiral Gestion’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 322.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in VeriSign by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,462 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its stake in VeriSign by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after purchasing an additional 455,844 shares during the period. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $600,000. Finally, Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $402,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,447 shares of company stock worth $2,349,974 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $279.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97 and a beta of 0.80. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $168.79 and a one year high of $288.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $260.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $227.36.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%. The company had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $400.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 37.65%.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.