VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Bought by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 34,326.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 697,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 695,102 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned 0.74% of VeriSign worth $176,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 156.4% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 846 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter worth $260,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in VeriSign by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 636 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in VeriSign by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 135,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 111 Capital acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $516,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.40, for a total transaction of $1,402,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 553,625 shares in the company, valued at $155,236,450. This represents a 0.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.00, for a total value of $141,282.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 39,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,200,758. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,501 shares of company stock worth $2,387,664 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.6%

VeriSign stock opened at $270.32 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $172.49 and a 52 week high of $288.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $263.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79 and a beta of 0.80.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 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 the consensus estimate of $400.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

VeriSign Company 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.