Saudi Central Bank Acquires 2,697 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Saudi Central Bank raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 87.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,777 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,697 shares during the quarter. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSN. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 429.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $282.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.48 billion, a PE ratio of 30.61 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $280.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $270.21.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total value of $828,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 426,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,935,320.66. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,918,308. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company 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 research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Company 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.