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

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total value of $938,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 391,627 shares in the company, valued at $111,378,718.80. The trade was a 0.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total value of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value 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 value of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was 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 shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total transaction 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 transaction of $820,149.00.
• On Tuesday, June 16th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total transaction of $904,926.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $288.85 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $281.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,973,000 after purchasing an additional 5,267 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in VeriSign by 208.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,324,000 after buying an additional 9,046 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth approximately $2,116,154,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 40.4% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 454,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $110,370,000 after buying an additional 130,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at $944,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Company Profile

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.