VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.67, for a total transaction of $1,418,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 535,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,982,443.24. This trade represents a 0.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

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

• On Wednesday, June 18th, D James Bidzos sold 4,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.87, for a total transaction of $1,127,480.00.
• On Wednesday, June 11th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $558,560.00.
• On Tuesday, June 10th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total transaction of $1,383,550.00.
• On Wednesday, May 21st, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.66, for a total transaction of $561,320.00.
• On Tuesday, May 20th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.40, for a total transaction of $1,402,000.00.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $280.73 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $273.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $240.16. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $172.49 and a 12-month high of $288.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.32 and a beta of 0.77.

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, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.10. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.23% and a negative return on equity of 41.37%. The business had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its holdings in VeriSign by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,746,661,000 after purchasing an additional 455,844 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,514,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,669,263,000 after purchasing an additional 119,555 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 75.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,329,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $586,417,000 after buying an additional 1,002,510 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $352,071,000 after buying an additional 35,326 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $265,894,000 after buying an additional 116,833 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

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.