UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Increases Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 665,087 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,928 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned approximately 0.74% of VeriSign worth $167,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 422,839 shares in the company, valued at $112,513,229.51. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,892,248. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $333.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $288.37 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $267.69. The company has a market cap of $26.04 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.