Assetmark Inc. Raises Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 16.7% in Q4, buying 5,880 shares to hold 41,144 shares valued at about $9.996 million.
• Institutional ownership is very high at 92.90%, with Vanguard holding 11,443,710 shares (~$3.20 billion) and several large asset managers meaningfully increasing positions recently.
• VeriSign slightly missed EPS estimates ($2.23 vs. $2.29) while revenue modestly beat; the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.81 (annual $3.24) and the consensus analyst target is a “Moderate Buy” at $297.00.

Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,144 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,880 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,199,318,000 after purchasing an additional 861,065 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 394.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 552,008 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $154,325,000 after acquiring an additional 440,289 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 13.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $985,063,000 after acquiring an additional 426,492 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1,035.6% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $117,651,000 after acquiring an additional 383,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 174.8% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 576,395 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $161,143,000 after acquiring an additional 366,664 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.06, for a total transaction of $134,489.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,316,832.12. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 2,490 shares of company stock worth $626,690 in the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $297.00.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $274.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.11 and a beta of 0.70. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $241.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.00. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.06). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.84% and a negative return on equity of 40.40%. The business had revenue of $425.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $424.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.00 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from VeriSign's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.78%.

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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