Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Acquires Shares of 8,699 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Focus Partners Advisor Solutions acquired 8,699 VeriSign shares worth approximately $2.19 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 92.9% of VRSN.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $328.75; several firms recently raised their targets.
• VeriSign exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $2.38 in EPS and $434.6 million in revenue. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, a 1.1% yield.

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,699 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,188,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Danske Bank A S boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 64,246 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,609,000 after buying an additional 12,220 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its position in VeriSign by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 146,100 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $35,495,000 after buying an additional 22,020 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in VeriSign by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 174,140 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $41,886,000 after buying an additional 3,691 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in VeriSign by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 49,688 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,179,000 after buying an additional 11,249 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,973,000 after acquiring an additional 5,267 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush raised their price objective on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $284.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $25.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $273.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.57.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total transaction of $146,175.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 34,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 409,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $121,474,349.06. This trade represents a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 33,200 shares of company stock worth $9,142,891 in the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Profile

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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