Sone Capital Management LLC Takes $4.16 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,519 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,156,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Parsifal Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,308,955,000. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth $2,507,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth $4,054,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $15,210,000. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $329,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $328.75.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total transaction of $146,175.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 34,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,100,984.85. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,525,933.65. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 valued at $10,059,796 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Trading Up 3.2%

VRSN stock opened at $290.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $272.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $264.96. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.54 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

VeriSign Profile

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.