NewEdge Advisors LLC Sells 5,816 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

NewEdge Advisors LLC reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 97.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,816 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management raised its stake 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 buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of VRSN opened at $294.73 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.19. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $26.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97 and a beta of 0.70.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 398,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,907,593.24. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total value of $140,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,087 shares in the company, valued at $8,752,855.72. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,624 over the last three months. 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.