Corient Private Wealth LP Increases Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Corient Private Wealth increased its VeriSign stake by 2,587.2% in the second quarter, reaching 78,951 shares valued at approximately $19.9 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.9% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $333; Wedbush raised its target to $341, while JPMorgan lifted its target to $316 but maintained a “Neutral” rating.
• VeriSign reported quarterly EPS of $2.38, exceeding estimates, while revenue rose 6% year over year to $434.6 million. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, representing a 1.1% annualized yield.

Corient Private Wealth LP grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 2,587.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,951 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 76,013 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP owned approximately 0.09% of VeriSign worth $19,861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in VeriSign by 30,008.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,563,589 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,694,816,000 after acquiring an additional 34,448,791 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,116,154,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $312,900,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,087 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,752,855.72. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.16, for a total transaction of $144,580.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,511,918.20. This represents a 1.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,096,482 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VRSN shares. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $298.60 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $283.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $272.39. The company has a market capitalization of $26.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.39 and a beta of 0.70.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.VeriSign's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. Equities analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.14%.

VeriSign Company 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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