VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Position Cut by Brighton Jones LLC

Brighton Jones LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,236 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,871 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 5.3% during the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 17,807 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,022,000 after buying an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,105,000. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,607 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush upped their target price on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $305.84 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.89 and a beta of 0.66. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $324.63. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $298.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.24.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.06% and a negative return on equity of 38.40%. The firm had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $440.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 34.84%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $311.99, for a total value of $1,029,567.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 365,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,947,171.73. This trade represents a 0.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 3,256 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.89, for a total value of $989,465.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,283,231.72. This represents a 9.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 45,356 shares of company stock worth $13,410,628 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc operates critical internet infrastructure, best known for managing the domain-name registries for .com and .net. It provides the systems that allow domain names in these extensions to be registered and resolved through the Domain Name System, working with registrars that serve businesses and individuals.

The company also provides registry services for other domain extensions and supports the security and stability of the internet’s naming infrastructure. Its services are used globally through a network of registrars and other internet service providers.

Founded in 1995, VeriSign began as a provider of digital certificate services before focusing its business on domain-name registry operations.