Key Points
- VeriSign EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares at an average price of $284.38, generating $142,190. The transaction was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan and reduced his holdings by 1.52%.
- VeriSign’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings of $2.38 per share and revenue of $434.6 million, up 6% year over year.
- Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, assigning the stock a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $333, compared with a recent share price near $288.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.38, for a total value of $142,190.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 32,395 shares in the company, valued at $9,212,490.10. This trade represents a 1.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
VeriSign Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $288.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $289.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $277.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released 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. The company 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 firm's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
VeriSign Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSN. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $333.00.
Get Our Latest Report on VeriSign
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.1% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in VeriSign by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,044,157,000 after purchasing an additional 73,583 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,612 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,454 shares during the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 4,062 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in VeriSign by 971.9% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 171,145 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $43,053,000 after purchasing an additional 155,179 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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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