VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock: Insider D James Bidzos Sells 3,300 Shares

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.67, for a total value of $1,002,111.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 368,527 shares in the company, valued at $111,910,594.09. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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, October 20th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.30, for a total value of $1,010,790.00.
• On Tuesday, October 13th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.85, for a total value of $999,405.00.
• On Tuesday, October 6th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.33, for a total value of $964,689.00.
• On Tuesday, September 29th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total value of $919,974.00.
• On Tuesday, September 22nd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total value of $1,005,642.00.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total value of $978,714.00.
• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total value of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.0%

VRSN traded up $2.97 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $307.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 687,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 825,849. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The firm has a market cap of $27.54 billion, a PE ratio of 33.01 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $294.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $270.50.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The business had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.8% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 290,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,814,000 after purchasing an additional 21,108 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,349 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $944,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Choreo LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Interchange Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $206,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush raised their price objective on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price objective on VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.00.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.