Key Points
- VeriSign CEO D. James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares at an average price of $292.33, generating $964,689. The transaction was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, leaving him with 378,427 shares.
- Bidzos has made a series of similarly sized weekly sales since July, selling 3,300 shares in each reported transaction.
- VeriSign recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $333 versus a reported share price of $294.22.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.33, for a total value of $964,689.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 378,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $110,625,564.91. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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, 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 transaction 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 shares were sold at an average price of $270.44, for a total transaction of $892,452.00.
VeriSign Trading Up 0.4%
VRSN opened at $294.22 on Thursday. The business's 50 day moving average is $290.18 and its 200-day moving average is $279.26. The stock has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a PE ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current year.
VeriSign Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is 35.14%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSN. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Monday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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 lowered shares of VeriSign from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $333.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on VRSN
Institutional Trading of VeriSign
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Groupe la Francaise boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 2.1% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 4.3% in the second quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 6.1% in the first quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $199,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 19.0% in the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 295 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.
About VeriSign
(
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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