Prudential PLC Acquires 4,762 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Prudential PLC grew its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 69.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,762 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,110,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,502,000 after acquiring an additional 2,330 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 41,855 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,169,000 after acquiring an additional 8,252 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 960,991 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $233,473,000 after acquiring an additional 71,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 149.8% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 9,382 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,279,000 after acquiring an additional 5,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on VRSN. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.67.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $294.92 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a PE ratio of 32.59 and a beta of 0.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The company’s 50 day moving average is $279.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $254.52.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $9,538,548.90. This trade represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 10,128 shares of company stock valued at $2,834,304 in the last ninety days. 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.