Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Decreases Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 84.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 891 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,845 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,199,318,000 after acquiring an additional 861,065 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,285,000 after acquiring an additional 321,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 13.8% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $985,063,000 after acquiring an additional 426,492 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $312,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,049,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $293,335,000 after acquiring an additional 44,743 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,538,548.90. This trade represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total value of $146,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,872,615.95. The trade was a 1.33% 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 10,128 shares of company stock valued at $2,834,304 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $294.92 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $279.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $254.49. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The company has a market capitalization of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.59 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.67.

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.