VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Sold by NS Partners Ltd

NS Partners Ltd reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,644 shares during the quarter. NS Partners Ltd owned 0.11% of VeriSign worth $24,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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 report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.3%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $288.28 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $26.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $275.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.17.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,752,855.72. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total value of $960,828.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 398,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,907,593.24. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,892,248. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.