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

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.30, for a total value of $1,010,790.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 371,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,890,610.10. This represents a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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, October 13th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.85, for a total value of $999,405.00.
• On Tuesday, October 6th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.33, for a total value of $964,689.00.
• On Tuesday, September 29th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total value of $919,974.00.
• On Tuesday, September 22nd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total value of $1,005,642.00.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total value of $978,714.00.
• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total transaction of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction 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 transaction 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 transaction of $978,582.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $307.25. 734,560 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 819,436. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $291.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $282.81. The company has a market cap of $27.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.32 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on VeriSign from $341.00 to $351.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research cut VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $335.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 6.0% during the third quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,263 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 137.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. now owns 12,327 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,476,000 after acquiring an additional 7,130 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,765 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,044,157,000 after acquiring an additional 73,583 shares during the last quarter. 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.