VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Sells 500 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.38, for a total value of $154,690.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,712,985.10. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock traded up $5.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $313.88. The stock had a trading volume of 2,748,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 837,884. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $317.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.75 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $296.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.06% and a negative return on equity of 38.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.27 EPS. Analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.53 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 34.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 target price on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.00.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ethic Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 17,807 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,022,000 after buying an additional 903 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $980,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,105,000. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,607 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $735,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $834,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

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.