4,962 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Bought by Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA

Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,962 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VRSN. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,285,000 after acquiring an additional 321,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after acquiring an additional 496,674 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 1.4% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in VeriSign by 19.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush lifted their target price on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total transaction of $146,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value of $916,905.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 401,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,525,933.65. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 3.2%

VRSN stock opened at $290.79 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $272.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $264.96. The stock has a market cap of $26.26 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $434.60 million for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.14%.

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.