VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells $938,157.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.29, for a total value of $938,157.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 436,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $123,961,527.31. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 2nd, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN traded down $8.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $279.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 700,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 819,247. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $25.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $282.10 and its 200 day moving average is $255.31.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,199,318,000 after purchasing an additional 861,065 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after purchasing an additional 321,737 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after purchasing an additional 496,674 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,491,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $362,247,000 after purchasing an additional 246,887 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.67.

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.