Bank of America Corp DE Buys Shares of 315,674 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Bank of America acquired 315,674 VeriSign shares worth approximately $79.4 million, representing a 0.35% stake. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 92.9% of the company.
• VeriSign exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.38 in adjusted earnings per share and $434.6 million in revenue, up 6% year over year. Shares opened at $303.12, near their 12-month high of $312.48.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with an average “Buy” rating and a $333 price target. VeriSign also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, yielding approximately 1.1%.

Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 315,674 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $79,411,000. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.35% of VeriSign at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter valued at about $2,116,154,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 208.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,324,000 after buying an additional 9,046 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,973,000 after acquiring an additional 5,267 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 454,292 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $110,370,000 after acquiring an additional 130,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at $944,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $303.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.88 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $274.22.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.16, for a total value of $144,580.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 32,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,511,918.20. This represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total transaction of $978,714.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 388,327 shares in the company, valued at $115,170,021.66. The trade was a 0.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,075,196 in the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRSN. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign's services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.

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