Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. Makes New $569,000 Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,343 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $569,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 159.6% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 9,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,223,000 after buying an additional 5,626 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,647,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 152.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 308,091 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,922,000 after buying an additional 186,029 shares during the last quarter. Sienna Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,139,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 85,503 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,904,000 after buying an additional 10,637 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 13,596 shares of company stock worth $3,834,345 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $273.87 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $283.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.99. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.26 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.80%.

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.