Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Invests $251,000 in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 987 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 106.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total transaction of $112,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,335 shares in the company, valued at $6,579,769.95. The trade was a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,002 shares of company stock worth $4,467,769 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN traded down $2.80 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $281.16. 682,619 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 757,820. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.49 and a 12 month high of $288.95. The firm has a market cap of $26.40 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $271.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $238.62.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

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.