18,805 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Purchased by Nykredit A S

Key Points

• Nykredit A S purchased 18,805 VeriSign shares during the second quarter, valued at approximately $4.73 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.9% of the company.
• VeriSign reported quarterly earnings of $2.38 per share and revenue of $434.6 million, exceeding analyst estimates; revenue increased 6% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $333, while the stock recently traded near its 52-week high at $308.18.

Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 18,805 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,731,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. 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 purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Strive Financial Group LLC increased 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 during the period. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 19.0% during 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. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $308.18 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $27.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $286.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $275.05. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.21 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm 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 was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 422,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. This represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,255,047 in the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRSN. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush upped their price target on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $333.00.

VeriSign 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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