Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,466 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $613,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in VeriSign by 788.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,315,027. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Trading Up 3.0%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $266.78 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $279.30 and its 200 day moving average is $256.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.28 billion, a PE ratio of 29.48 and a beta of 0.71.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. Research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. 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 35.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.67.

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.