O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 17.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,111 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 16,086 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned about 0.08% of VeriSign worth $18,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 872 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,779 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,616,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthCollab LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 312 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $317.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total transaction of $146,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,051 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,872,615.95. The trade was a 1.33% 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 have sold 9,796 shares of company stock valued at $2,754,418 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $283.89 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The company has a market capitalization of $25.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.69. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $281.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $255.03.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's payout ratio is 35.80%.

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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