National Pension Service Increases Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• National Pension Service increased its VeriSign stake by 971.9% in the second quarter, acquiring 155,179 additional shares and ending with 171,145 shares valued at approximately $43.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.9% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with VeriSign holding an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $333; Wedbush recently raised its target to $341 and rated the stock “outperform.”
• VeriSign reported quarterly earnings of $2.38 per share, slightly ahead of estimates, while revenue rose 6% year over year to $434.6 million. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, equivalent to a 1.1% annual yield.

National Pension Service lifted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 971.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,145 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 155,179 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.19% of VeriSign worth $43,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 47.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in VeriSign by 208.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,324,000 after acquiring an additional 9,046 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,116,154,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 454,292 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $110,370,000 after purchasing an additional 130,683 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter worth $944,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 426,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at $106,935,320.66. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,001,408 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. 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. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $292.71 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $282.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.37. The firm has a market cap of $26.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.14%.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign's services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.

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