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

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.29, for a total value of $938,157.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 436,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $123,961,527.31. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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, June 2nd, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00.

VeriSign Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $279.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $25.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.89 and a beta of 0.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $282.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.51.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its 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 negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,199,318,000 after purchasing an additional 861,065 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after purchasing an additional 321,737 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after purchasing an additional 496,674 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,491,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $362,247,000 after purchasing an additional 246,887 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.67.

About VeriSign

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.