Hsbc Holdings PLC Has $53.25 Million Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings trimmed its VeriSign stake by 10.9% in the second quarter, selling 25,914 shares and retaining 212,052 shares valued at approximately $53.25 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 92.9% of VRSN.
• Analysts remain generally bullish, with VeriSign receiving a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $333. Wedbush raised its target to $341, while JPMorgan increased its target to $316 but maintained a neutral rating.
• VeriSign exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.38 in EPS and $434.6 million in revenue, up 6% year over year. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.81, equivalent to a 1.1% annualized yield.

Hsbc Holdings PLC trimmed its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 10.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 212,052 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 25,914 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.23% of VeriSign worth $53,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, July 24th. One equities 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 company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $333.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total transaction of $828,102.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 426,139 shares in the company, valued at $106,935,320.66. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,918,308 over the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $292.08 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $279.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $269.76. The stock has a market cap of $26.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.21 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

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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