Danske Bank A S bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 64,628 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $16,258,000. Danske Bank A S owned about 0.07% of VeriSign as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position 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 lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in VeriSign by 122.1% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 2.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSN. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush increased their price objective on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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 reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $328.75.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on VRSN
Insider Activity
In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
VeriSign Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $276.90 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.70. The company's 50-day moving average is $272.56 and its 200 day moving average is $264.41.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 analysts' expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.
VeriSign Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%.
VeriSign Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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