VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Purchased by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 93.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,762 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,212 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,973,000 after buying an additional 5,267 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in VeriSign by 208.5% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,324,000 after acquiring an additional 9,046 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,116,154,000. Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $944,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 40.4% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 454,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $110,370,000 after acquiring an additional 130,683 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $288.85 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $281.71 and a 200-day moving average of $271.22. The company has a market capitalization of $26.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.33 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total value of $938,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 391,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,378,718.80. The trade was a 0.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 John Calys sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total value of $140,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,752,855.72. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,001,408 over the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign’s services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.