VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock: Insider Danny Mcpherson Sells 3,256 Shares

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Danny Mcpherson sold 3,256 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.89, for a total value of $989,465.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,283,231.72. This represents a 9.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $307.01 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $294.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $270.80. The stock has a market cap of $27.54 billion, a PE ratio of 33.01 and a beta of 0.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $443.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.27 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 208.5% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,324,000 after buying an additional 9,046 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth approximately $2,116,154,000. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth $944,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 16.1% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 237,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $59,272,000 after buying an additional 33,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 86.9% in the first quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 20,786 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,162,000 after buying an additional 9,664 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.