Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 9,046 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp increased its VeriSign stake by 208.5% in the first quarter, buying 9,046 additional shares and lifting its total holdings to 13,385 shares worth about $3.32 million.
• Analysts remain generally positive on VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $325.25. Recent updates included upgrades and higher targets from firms such as Wedbush, JPMorgan, Baird, and Citigroup.
• Company insiders have recently sold shares, including CEO D. James Bidzos and EVP Danny R. McPherson, while VeriSign also posted solid quarterly results that beat EPS and revenue expectations.

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 208.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,385 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 9,046 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of VeriSign in a report on Thursday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $318.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $325.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $9,538,548.90. This trade represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,300 shares of company stock valued at $7,125,942. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $277.66 on Monday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $25.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.68 and a beta of 0.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $278.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.44.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. VeriSign's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.45 EPS for the current year.

About VeriSign

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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