VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos Sells 2,000 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $558,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 542,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,585,364.16. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 10th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total value of $1,383,550.00.
• On Wednesday, May 21st, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.66, for a total value of $561,320.00.
• On Tuesday, May 20th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.40, for a total value of $1,402,000.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $281.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $268.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $236.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.23 and a beta of 0.77. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $172.49 and a 52 week high of $288.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10. The firm had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,894,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $345,000. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 59.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 8,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,129 shares in the last quarter. Chokshi & Queen Wealth Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Finally, Optimize Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,942,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About VeriSign

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.