Thomas Indelicarto Sells 500 Shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $279.89 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 $25.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $283.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $255.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 429.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Company 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.