Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases Shares of 5,873 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,873 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,477,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $293.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.86 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.33.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value of $916,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 401,389 shares in the company, valued at $111,525,933.65. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush raised their price target on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.75.

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.