Ieq Capital LLC Sells 4,363 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Ieq Capital LLC lessened its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 178,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,363 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $43,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 104.5% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after buying an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in VeriSign by 122.1% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $852,000 after buying an additional 1,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total value of $141,770.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,363,670.54. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 13,596 shares of company stock worth $3,834,345. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $279.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $283.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $255.68. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $428.90 million during 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. Research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

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.