VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Sold by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. cut its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 34.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,820 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 872 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.0% in the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthCollab LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 19.1% in the third quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 312 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of VRSN stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $270.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 369,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 802,014. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $279.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.41. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.58 billion, a PE ratio of 29.85 and a beta of 0.71.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 value of $1,355,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,798 shares of company stock worth $7,260,432. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.67.

VeriSign 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.