4,414 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Acquired by Allworth Financial LP

Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,414 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,110,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its position in VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total transaction of $146,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 34,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. This represents a 1.43% 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. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 401,389 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $111,525,933.65. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $281.80 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $264.54. The company has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. VeriSign's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.14%.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign's registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.

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