Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Sells 5,396 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Axxcess Wealth Management cut its VeriSign position by 80.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,396 shares and leaving it with 1,273 shares worth about $309,000.
• VeriSign insiders also sold stock, including EVP Danny R. Mcpherson’s sale of 5,000 shares and EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto’s sale of 498 shares; insiders have sold 6,826 shares over the past three months.
• The company reported solid quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a “Moderate Buy.”

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 80.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,273 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,396 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 872 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 0.8% in the third quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,779 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,616,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthCollab LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 19.1% in the third quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 312 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.06, for a total transaction of $134,489.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,202 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,316,832.12. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,826 shares of company stock valued at $1,821,354. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN opened at $295.65 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $26.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.67 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $252.28. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. VeriSign's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.46 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is 35.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $317.67.

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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