Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in VeriSign during the first quarter, buying 4,200 shares worth about $1.043 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 92.9% of VeriSign’s shares. Several other investors also increased their stakes in recent quarters.
• VeriSign posted solid quarterly results, beating EPS expectations with $2.34 per share and revenue of $428.9 million, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $327.67.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 4,200 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,043,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 159.6% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 9,150 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,223,000 after acquiring an additional 5,626 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 14.2% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 85,503 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $23,904,000 after acquiring an additional 10,637 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the third quarter worth about $26,647,000. Sienna Gestion acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the third quarter worth about $5,139,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 152.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 308,091 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $75,922,000 after purchasing an additional 186,029 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $327.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN opened at $256.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $279.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $256.58. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The company has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a PE ratio of 28.33 and a beta of 0.71.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. 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 23,746 shares of company stock worth $6,451,479 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

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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