Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Purchases 45,511 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 312,661 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 45,511 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $75,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,199,318,000 after purchasing an additional 861,065 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after purchasing an additional 321,737 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 13.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $985,063,000 after purchasing an additional 426,492 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in VeriSign by 4.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,049,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $293,335,000 after acquiring an additional 44,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in VeriSign by 1.7% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 675,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $188,880,000 after acquiring an additional 11,440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.67.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.06, for a total transaction of $134,489.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,316,832.12. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 6,826 shares of company stock worth $1,821,354. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $305.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $267.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $250.49. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $310.60. The company has a market cap of $27.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.80 and a beta of 0.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

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.