Key Points
- VeriSign CEO D. James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares at an average price of $284.40, generating $938,520. The transaction, conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reduced his stake by 0.84% to 391,627 shares.
- Bidzos has made a series of similar 3,300-share sales since June, with the latest transaction representing the most recent in a recurring selling pattern.
- VeriSign reported quarterly revenue of $434.6 million and EPS of $2.38, slightly beating analyst estimates. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $333, versus shares recently trading near $286.94.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.16, for a total transaction of $144,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,511,918.20. This trade represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
VeriSign Price Performance
Shares of VRSN stock opened at $286.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12 and a beta of 0.70. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $281.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $270.71. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.
VeriSign Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 35.14%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $333.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on VeriSign
Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign
Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About VeriSign
(
Get Free Report)
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.
Featured Stories
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from InsiderTrades.com in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
