VeriSign Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:VRSN)

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 3,556 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 302% compared to the typical volume of 884 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $333.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total value of $828,102.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 426,139 shares in the company, valued at $106,935,320.66. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,075,196 over the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter worth $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth $2,116,154,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $312,900,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 960,991 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $233,473,000 after purchasing an additional 71,570 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.4%

VRSN stock opened at $298.46 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $284.45 and a 200-day moving average of $273.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.37 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results 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. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that VeriSign will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign’s services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.