VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos Sells 3,300 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.85, for a total value of $999,405.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 375,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,607,211.95. The trade was a 0.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, October 6th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.33, for a total value of $964,689.00.
• On Tuesday, September 29th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total transaction of $919,974.00.
• On Tuesday, September 22nd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total transaction of $1,005,642.00.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total transaction of $978,714.00.
• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total transaction of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00.
• On Tuesday, August 4th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $301.41 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $27.22 billion, a PE ratio of 32.69 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $290.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.24.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%. The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 is 35.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRSN. Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research downgraded VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.00.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 137.2% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. now owns 12,327 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,476,000 after buying an additional 7,130 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.1% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,765 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after buying an additional 955 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in VeriSign by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,044,157,000 after acquiring an additional 73,583 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 28.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Archford Capital Strategies LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 2.2% during the second quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 4,062 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN) provides critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registries for the .com and .net top-level domains and supports the security, stability and availability of these domains worldwide. VeriSign also operates the .name and .cc registries and provides backend registry services for additional top-level domains.

In addition to registry operations, VeriSign offers domain name system (DNS) services designed to help organizations maintain reliable online access.