Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Increases Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 960,991 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 71,570 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $233,473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,199,318,000 after buying an additional 861,065 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in VeriSign by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,285,000 after buying an additional 321,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 13.8% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $985,063,000 after buying an additional 426,492 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $312,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,049,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $293,335,000 after purchasing an additional 44,743 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $294.92 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.59 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $279.96 and a 200 day moving average of $254.49.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total value of $146,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,872,615.95. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 10,128 shares of company stock valued at $2,834,304 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.