Donoghue Forlines LLC Takes Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Key Points

• Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired 9,556 shares of VeriSign, Inc. valued at approximately $2.43 million, making it the firm's 17th largest position.
• VeriSign also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.1%.
• Wall Street analysts have shown optimism for VeriSign, with upgrades and increased price targets, including a raise from $285 to $305 by Robert W. Baird.

Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 9,556 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,426,000. VeriSign makes up approximately 0.8% of Donoghue Forlines LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at $48,000. NS Partners Ltd increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 0.9% in the first quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 105,529 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,791,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 68.7% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 237,204 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $60,219,000 after acquiring an additional 96,621 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 11.3% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 146,485 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,188,000 after acquiring an additional 14,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target 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. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.82, for a total transaction of $1,424,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 526,772 shares in the company, valued at $150,035,201.04. This trade represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 39,505 shares of company stock worth $11,130,549 in the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded down $4.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $263.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,300,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 881,075. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $172.49 and a twelve month high of $310.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.57 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's 50 day moving average is $281.41 and its 200-day moving average is $260.49.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.01. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%. The company had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.35 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information services provider to repurchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Company 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.