VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Sells $126,562.62 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.62, for a total transaction of $126,562.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,111,628.20. The trade was a 1.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.5%

VRSN stock traded down $3.73 on Wednesday, hitting $249.94. The company had a trading volume of 1,410,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 884,000. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $185.44 and a 12-month high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $23.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $256.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.35.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $419.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.71 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.86% and a negative return on equity of 40.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 18th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.90%.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 75.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. Tevis Investment Management bought a new stake in VeriSign during the third quarter valued at about $316,000. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in VeriSign during the third quarter valued at about $1,561,000. Investment Research Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter valued at about $427,000. Finally, Cambria Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter worth about $340,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRSN. Zacks Research raised VeriSign to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $270.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Friday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.67.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.