Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension Has $22.51 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension trimmed its VeriSign stake by 5.3% in the first quarter, leaving it with 90,645 shares valued at about $22.5 million.
• Analysts remain constructive on VeriSign, with several firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus Moderate Buy rating and average target of $327.67.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including CEO D. James Bidzos and EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto, even as VeriSign posted solid quarterly results that beat earnings estimates and continued paying a quarterly dividend.

Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension cut its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,645 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,026 shares during the quarter. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension owned about 0.10% of VeriSign worth $22,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRSN. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $327.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 422,839 shares in the company, valued at $112,513,229.51. This represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.23, for a total value of $67,307.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 36,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,706,010.73. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 26,300 shares of company stock worth $7,125,942 in the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $270.31 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $279.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.67. The firm has a market cap of $24.60 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87 and a beta of 0.71. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

About VeriSign

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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