Ninety One North America Inc. Boosts Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Ninety One North America Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 3.3% in Q4 to 158,934 shares (about $38.6M), making VRSN its 24th largest holding, and institutional investors now own roughly 92.9% of the company.
• Analysts hold a consensus Moderate Buy rating with a $297 average target; VeriSign slightly missed EPS ($2.23 vs. $2.29) but beat revenue estimates, and recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.81 (annualized $3.24, ~1.2% yield).

Ninety One North America Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 158,934 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,043 shares during the period. VeriSign accounts for 1.6% of Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Ninety One North America Inc. owned 0.17% of VeriSign worth $38,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. Strategy Asset Managers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter worth $654,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 11.5% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 357,611 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $99,977,000 after acquiring an additional 36,829 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 9.6% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 27,719 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,749,000 after acquiring an additional 2,435 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter worth $26,647,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 675,608 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $188,880,000 after acquiring an additional 11,440 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $297.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $274.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a PE ratio of 31.11 and a beta of 0.70. The firm's fifty day moving average is $241.26 and its 200 day moving average is $247.00. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $425.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.04 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.84% and a negative return on equity of 40.40%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.00 EPS.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a boost from VeriSign's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.06, for a total transaction of $134,489.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,316,832.12. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 2,490 shares of company stock worth $626,690 in the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Company 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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