Investment Management Corp of Ontario Acquires 22,436 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 917.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,881 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,436 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. Blair William & Co. IL bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 1st quarter worth approximately $232,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in VeriSign in the first quarter worth $48,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the first quarter worth $86,014,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,057,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC now owns 19,669 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,015,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.57, for a total value of $1,327,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 471,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,200,055.23. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.87, for a total value of $592,175.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 28,577 shares in the company, valued at $6,769,033.99. This trade represents a 8.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 40,338 shares of company stock valued at $10,526,239 in the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. Zacks Research raised VeriSign to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $270.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 target price on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $281.67.

VeriSign Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $242.57 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $191.12 and a 52-week high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $22.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.27 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $253.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $270.19.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.66% and a net margin of 49.86%.The company had revenue of $419.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 18th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.90%.

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.