Bamco Inc. NY Acquires New Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Bamco Inc. NY bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,326 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,849,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign by 25.3% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,373,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $294.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $274.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $266.19. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $26.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.97 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign 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 directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,020,624. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment 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, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $328.75.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source