Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Sells 5,318 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 13.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,993 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,318 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $8,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 28.0% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,361 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in VeriSign in the first quarter worth about $491,000. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 503.2% in the first quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 244,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $60,674,000 after buying an additional 203,800 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 57.6% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,651,000 after buying an additional 2,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the first quarter valued at approximately $545,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This trade represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 26,300 shares of company stock worth $7,125,942 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $270.52 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $279.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.01. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89 and a beta of 0.71.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given 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 dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

VeriSign Company 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.