West Family Investments Inc. Takes Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,809 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $707,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupe la Francaise grew its position in VeriSign by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush lifted their target price on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 401,389 shares in the company, valued at $111,525,933.65. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,752,855.72. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.3%

VeriSign stock opened at $273.03 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $264.18. The company has a market cap of $24.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

VeriSign Profile

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.