B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Acquires Shares of 4,573 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,573 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,150,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings 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 valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $281.80 on Monday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $272.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $264.63. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The firm has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio 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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