Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 27,531 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 584,187 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 27,531 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.62% of VeriSign worth $148,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $222,840,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 34,326.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $176,980,000 after purchasing an additional 695,102 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in VeriSign by 268.8% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $143,319,000 after purchasing an additional 504,748 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after acquiring an additional 455,844 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,062,000 after acquiring an additional 403,760 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN traded down $4.47 during trading on Thursday, reaching $285.29. 580,121 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 757,430. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $281.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.23. The firm has a market cap of $26.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.88 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $172.49 and a 12-month high of $291.54.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 41.37% and a net margin of 50.23%. The business had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total value of $1,383,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 544,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at $150,743,860.12. This trade represents a 0.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,735 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,955.65. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,004 shares of company stock worth $9,305,492 in the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.