VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto Sells 500 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,551 shares in the company, valued at $9,954,280. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $281.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $25.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.49 and a beta of 0.71. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.86.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRSN. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after buying an additional 321,737 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,700,000 after buying an additional 496,674 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after acquiring an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,491,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $362,247,000 after acquiring an additional 246,887 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $312,900,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.