Redwood Investment Management LLC Buys New Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,671 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $2,116,154,000. 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 worth $1,189,285,000 after buying an additional 321,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,700,000 after buying an additional 496,674 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,752,855.72. This trade represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 398,089 shares in the company, valued at $115,907,593.24. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,624. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $292.99 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush raised their target price on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

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.