Ninety One North America Inc. Lowers Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Ninety One North America Inc. trimmed its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,519 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 15,587 shares during the period. VeriSign accounts for approximately 3.6% of Ninety One North America Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Ninety One North America Inc. owned 0.22% of VeriSign worth $52,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13,000.0% in the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 106.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 48.8% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total transaction of $143,837.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,843,479.90. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.87, for a total value of $1,127,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 531,772 shares in the company, valued at $149,890,573.64. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,004 shares of company stock valued at $7,302,812. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of VRSN traded down $4.47 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $285.29. 580,121 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 756,347. The stock has a market cap of $26.79 billion, a PE ratio of 34.88 and a beta of 0.78. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $281.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $248.23. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.49 and a 12 month high of $291.54.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 41.37% and a net margin of 50.23%. The firm had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VRSN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.