Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 46,290 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Russell Investments raised its VeriSign stake by 12.1%, buying 46,290 shares to hold 429,469 shares (about 0.46% of the company) valued at roughly $120.1 million.
• Institutional ownership is very high at 92.9%, with major funds — including Vanguard (now 11.44M shares after adding 861,065), Norges Bank (new ~$300M stake), AQR, Envestnet and KBC — materially increasing positions.
• VeriSign slightly missed quarterly EPS ($2.23 vs. $2.29 est.) while revenue rose 7.6% to $425.3M; the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.81 ($3.24 annual, 1.3% yield) and carries a consensus analyst rating of Hold with a $292 target.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 12.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 429,469 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 46,290 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.46% of VeriSign worth $120,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth approximately $300,249,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 8.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,199,318,000 after acquiring an additional 861,065 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 32.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,003 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $894,414,000 after acquiring an additional 767,363 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 394.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 552,008 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $154,325,000 after acquiring an additional 440,289 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 496.3% during the 2nd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 352,481 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $101,797,000 after acquiring an additional 293,373 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on VeriSign from $337.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $292.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.78, for a total transaction of $115,426.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 40,028 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,277,689.84. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.28, for a total value of $496,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 414,099 shares in the company, valued at $102,812,499.72. This trade represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 18,158 shares of company stock worth $4,440,325 in the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN opened at $242.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.51 and a beta of 0.76. The business's 50-day moving average price is $236.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $251.91. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $310.60.

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

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. VeriSign's payout ratio is presently 36.78%.

VeriSign 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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