State of Wyoming Acquires 2,059 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

State of Wyoming grew its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 95.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,206 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,059 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in VeriSign by 9.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 734 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in VeriSign by 20.6% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 719,987 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $178,816,000 after purchasing an additional 123,006 shares during the period. CacheTech Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 60.1% during the first quarter. CacheTech Inc. now owns 2,258 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 31.6% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,408,000 after purchasing an additional 3,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Convergence Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 48.6% in the 1st quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,461 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,330,000 after purchasing an additional 7,020 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush assumed coverage on VeriSign in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.25.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $262.59 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $277.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.96. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 422,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.23, for a total value of $67,307.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 36,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,706,010.73. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,300 shares of company stock worth $7,125,942. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.