Key Points
- VeriSign EVP Thomas Indelicato sold 500 shares for approximately $146,570 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, reducing his holdings by 1.54% to 31,895 shares.
- VeriSign shares opened at $303.74, near their 12-month high of $312.48. The company recently reported quarterly revenue of $434.6 million and earnings per share of $2.38, slightly exceeding analyst expectations.
- Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $333, while institutional investors and hedge funds own approximately 92.9% of the stock.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $146,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,895 shares in the company, valued at $9,349,700.30. The trade was a 1.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
VeriSign Trading Up 2.0%
Shares of VRSN stock opened at $303.74 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $290.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.83. The company has a market cap of $27.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.94 and a beta of 0.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
VeriSign Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSN. Wedbush upped their price target 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. Zacks Research downgraded shares of VeriSign from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Finally, 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 report on Friday, July 24th. 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, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $333.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on VeriSign
Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Groupe la Francaise grew its holdings in VeriSign by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.3% in the second quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 6.1% in the first quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $199,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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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