Denali Advisors LLC Invests $815,000 in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,210 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $815,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13,000.0% in the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 32.3% in the first quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 172 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 48.8% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total transaction of $1,383,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 544,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 40,004 shares of company stock worth $11,278,592 over the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN traded up $2.57 on Friday, hitting $283.43. 359,441 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 755,026. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $280.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $252.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.65 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $172.49 and a 52-week high of $291.54.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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