1,806 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Acquired by Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,806 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $453,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,376 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,805,000 after purchasing an additional 15,147 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,017,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $542,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 117,807 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,381,000 after acquiring an additional 15,765 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 3.8%

VeriSign stock opened at $266.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.86 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $172.49 and a 1-year high of $310.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $282.15 and a 200-day moving average of $256.46.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.35 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.01 EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 36.75%.

VeriSign announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total transaction of $562,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 515,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $145,112,452.20. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total value of $143,837.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,843,479.90. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,004 shares of company stock worth $11,278,592 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.