Trust Co. of Vermont Takes Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,875 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,226,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% in 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. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $276.74 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $272.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $263.98. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The firm has a market cap of $24.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid 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 1.2%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total value of $141,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,363,670.54. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% 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 33,200 shares of company stock worth $9,142,891 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup lifted 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

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.