National Bank of Canada FI Sells 8,045 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

National Bank of Canada FI lessened its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 11.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 61,982 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,045 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $15,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% during 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 buying an additional 455,844 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,327,130 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $273,853,000 after purchasing an additional 229,311 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $227,062,000 after purchasing an additional 403,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 974,617 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $201,707,000 after purchasing an additional 98,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.50, for a total transaction of $135,019.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,043,726. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $145,112,452.20. This trade represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,505 shares of company stock worth $11,130,549 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VRSN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $267.42 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $172.49 and a twelve month high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $24.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s fifty day moving average is $281.41 and its 200 day moving average is $260.49.

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

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information services provider to reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 36.75%.

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.