9,294 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Bought by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 9,294 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Danske Bank A S increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 64,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,609,000 after buying an additional 12,220 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its position in VeriSign by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 146,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,495,000 after buying an additional 22,020 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in VeriSign by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 174,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,886,000 after buying an additional 3,691 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,973,000 after acquiring an additional 5,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in VeriSign by 208.5% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,324,000 after acquiring an additional 9,046 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.4%

VRSN opened at $276.90 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $272.56 and a 200-day moving average of $264.41. The stock has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total value of $146,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value of $916,905.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 401,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,525,933.65. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

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.