VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos Sells 3,300 Shares

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total transaction of $978,714.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 388,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,170,021.66. This represents a 0.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total transaction of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00.
• On Tuesday, August 4th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00.
• On Tuesday, July 21st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.44, for a total transaction of $892,452.00.
• On Tuesday, July 7th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total value of $828,102.00.
• On Tuesday, June 23rd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.53, for a total value of $820,149.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $298.46 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $26.95 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $284.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $273.49. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid 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 Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.14%.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $2,116,154,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 1.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $312,900,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 960,991 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $233,473,000 after purchasing an additional 71,570 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSN shares. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.00.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign’s services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.