7,800 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Sold by Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 359,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,800 shares during the quarter. VeriSign comprises 3.5% of Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $101,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter worth $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in VeriSign by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,044,157,000 after purchasing an additional 73,583 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP increased its stake in VeriSign by 48.5% in the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $227,252,000 after purchasing an additional 298,895 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup upped their price target on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research lowered VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $304.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $294.11 and a 200-day moving average of $270.50. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $146,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,349,700.30. This represents a 1.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 3,256 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.89, for a total value of $989,465.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 30,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,283,231.72. This trade represents a 9.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 42,556 shares of company stock valued at $12,495,117 over the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.