Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Aware Super opened a new position in VeriSign during the first quarter, buying 141,265 shares worth about $35.1 million. The stake represented roughly 0.16% of the company.
• VeriSign has strong backing from Wall Street, with analysts giving it a Moderate Buy consensus rating and an average price target of $325.25. Recent updates included higher targets from JPMorgan, Wedbush, Robert W. Baird, and Citigroup.
• The company posted better-than-expected quarterly results, reporting EPS of $2.34 versus estimates of $2.30 and revenue of $428.9 million, up 6.6% year over year. VeriSign also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share and saw recent insider selling by its CEO and an EVP.

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 141,265 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $35,085,000. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super owned about 0.16% of VeriSign as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRSN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Thursday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $318.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $325.25.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $275.22 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $278.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.41 and a beta of 0.71.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. VeriSign's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 422,839 shares of the company's stock, valued at $112,513,229.51. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 business's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $9,706,010.73. The trade was a 0.69% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 26,300 shares of company stock valued at $7,125,942. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Company 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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