Western Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $508,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush raised their price target on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $328.75.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total value of $141,770.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,363,670.54. This represents a 1.35% 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. Insiders sold a total of 33,200 shares of company stock valued at $9,142,891 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $284.24 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $273.27 and a 200-day moving average of $263.57. The company has a market capitalization of $25.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

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.