Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management acquired 14,628 VeriSign shares in the third quarter, valued at about $4.1 million; institutional investors collectively own 92.9% of the stock.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is “Moderate Buy”, with an average price target of $352. Citigroup and Wedbush raised their targets, while JPMorgan maintained a neutral rating.
• VeriSign’s latest quarterly results missed earnings expectations ($2.35 per share versus $2.46 estimated), though revenue rose 5.7% year over year and exceeded forecasts.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 14,628 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,093,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter valued at $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,044,157,000 after buying an additional 73,583 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 48.5% during the 1st quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,252,000 after buying an additional 298,895 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Wedbush lifted their target price on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 target price on VeriSign in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $352.00.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:VRSN traded down $3.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $308.67. 1,020,299 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,007,995. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19 and a beta of 0.66. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $324.63. The firm's 50 day moving average is $298.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $272.97.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $443.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.84%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 394,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,959,300.43. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 45,856 shares of company stock worth $13,556,803 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc operates critical internet infrastructure, best known for managing the domain-name registries for .com and .net. It provides the systems that allow domain names in these extensions to be registered and resolved through the Domain Name System, working with registrars that serve businesses and individuals.

The company also provides registry services for other domain extensions and supports the security and stability of the internet's naming infrastructure. Its services are used globally through a network of registrars and other internet service providers.

Founded in 1995, VeriSign began as a provider of digital certificate services before focusing its business on domain-name registry operations.

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