VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Holdings Boosted by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 296.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 412,502 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 308,411 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.45% of VeriSign worth $102,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. One Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on VRSN. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Citigroup boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,363,670.54. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders have sold 28,900 shares of company stock worth $7,872,034 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $290.02 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.64. The company has a market cap of $26.19 billion, a PE ratio of 31.46 and a beta of 0.71. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

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.