Key Points
- VeriSign CEO D. James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares at an average price of $278.78, generating proceeds of approximately $919,974. The transaction was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his ownership by 0.86% to 381,727 shares.
- Bidzos has made a series of similar 3,300-share sales since July, indicating a recurring pattern of insider selling rather than a one-time transaction.
- VeriSign reported quarterly earnings of $2.38 per share, slightly ahead of estimates, with revenue up 6% year over year to $434.6 million. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $333, compared with shares opening at $282.01.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total value of $919,974.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 381,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $106,417,853.06. This trade represents a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total transaction 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 transaction of $938,520.00.
- On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction 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.
- On Tuesday, August 4th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00.
- On Tuesday, July 28th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00.
- On Tuesday, July 21st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.44, for a total transaction of $892,452.00.
- On Tuesday, July 7th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00.
VeriSign Stock Up 0.8%
Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $282.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $25.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $277.47.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current year.
VeriSign Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 35.14%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Monday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wedbush lifted 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $333.00.
View Our Latest Report on VRSN
Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign
Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 25.1% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,765 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,044,157,000 after buying an additional 73,583 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,612 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,663,000 after buying an additional 1,454 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 4,062 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 971.9% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 171,145 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $43,053,000 after acquiring an additional 155,179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.
VeriSign Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN) provides critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registries for the .com and .net top-level domains and supports the security, stability and availability of these domains worldwide. VeriSign also operates the .name and .cc registries and provides backend registry services for additional top-level domains.
In addition to registry operations, VeriSign offers domain name system (DNS) services designed to help organizations maintain reliable online access.
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