VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Sells $125,285.07 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.07, for a total transaction of $125,285.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,904,462.63. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.1%

VeriSign stock traded down $0.25 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $242.32. The stock had a trading volume of 1,633,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 883,709. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $253.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $270.19. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $191.12 and a 1 year high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $22.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24 and a beta of 0.78.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 18th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,199,318,000 after buying an additional 861,065 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after acquiring an additional 321,737 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $985,063,000 after acquiring an additional 426,492 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,326,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $670,685,000 after purchasing an additional 44,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 71.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,202,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $307,098,000 after purchasing an additional 500,223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Company 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.