17,569 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Sold by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Envestnet Asset Management reduced its VeriSign position by 3.2%, selling 17,569 shares in the second quarter and retaining 531,550 shares valued at approximately $133.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.9% of VRSN.
• VeriSign reported quarterly revenue of $434.6 million, up 6% year over year, and earnings of $2.38 per share, exceeding analyst estimates. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, equivalent to a 1.1% yield.
• VRSN opened at $287.25, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $333.00. Recent targets range from $316 to $341.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 531,550 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 17,569 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.59% of VeriSign worth $133,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,044,157,000 after buying an additional 73,583 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 28.2% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,612 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,454 shares during the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 971.9% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 171,145 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $43,053,000 after acquiring an additional 155,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 1,967 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.6%

VRSN stock opened at $287.25 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $288.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $276.28. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $25.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16 and a beta of 0.70.

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 (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 company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 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 is presently 35.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research downgraded VeriSign from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $333.00.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 422,839 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,260,689 in the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign's services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.

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