VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Sold by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 58.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 22,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 32,284 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Groupe la Francaise boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 872 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, One Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $284.24 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $273.27 and a 200-day moving average of $263.57. The firm has a market cap of $25.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,752,855.72. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total value of $146,175.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,200 shares of company stock worth $9,142,891. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush upped 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Profile

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.