Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,055 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 322.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,639,000 after buying an additional 199,583 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,462 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218 shares in the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $600,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $989,000. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 9,060 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,059,955.65. This trade represents a 13.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $281.41 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $168.51 and a 52-week high of $288.95. The company has a market cap of $26.42 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $252.53 and a 200 day moving average of $220.43.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The business had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is 37.65%.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.

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