Bull Harbor Capital LLC Purchases New Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Bull Harbor Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,433 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,349,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 296.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 412,502 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $102,449,000 after purchasing an additional 308,411 shares in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP increased its position in VeriSign by 48.5% during the 1st quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $227,252,000 after buying an additional 298,895 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in VeriSign by 186.5% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 234,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $58,172,000 after buying an additional 152,478 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in VeriSign by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 14,177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,521,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA purchased a new position in VeriSign during the first quarter valued at $507,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 3.5%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $290.92 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $26.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $275.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.17. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on 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 report on Monday. Wedbush lifted their price target on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.75.

More VeriSign News

Here are the key news stories impacting VeriSign this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded VeriSign to “Strong Buy” from “Hold,” citing growing optimism about the company’s earnings prospects. The upgrade gives investors a fresh bullish signal and may be the main catalyst supporting the stock. VeriSign Upgraded to Strong Buy
• Positive Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha analysis upgraded the stock, arguing that the market may be overlooking aspects of VeriSign’s business and post-earnings outlook. The company’s recurring domain-registry revenue, strong margins and earnings beat provide support for the bullish view. VeriSign Analysis and Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst targets remain above the trading range, with a reported consensus target of $328.75 and several firms maintaining Buy or Outperform ratings. This suggests potential upside, although the stock is already near its 52-week high.
• Neutral Sentiment: VeriSign outperformed several competitors during a broadly weaker session, indicating relative investor resilience, though the report did not identify a new fundamental catalyst. VeriSign Outperforms Competitors
• Negative Sentiment: CEO D. James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares, while EVPs John Calys and Thomas Indelicarto each sold 500 shares. The transactions reduced their individual holdings modestly, but the CEO and EVP sales were conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing their significance as a bearish signal. VeriSign SEC Insider Sale Filing

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 412,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,118,446.80. This represents a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $140,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,551 shares in the company, valued at $9,954,280. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,900 shares of company stock valued at $7,872,034. Corporate 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.