Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Sells 95,574 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA cut its VeriSign stake by 96% in the first quarter, selling 95,574 shares and leaving it with 4,005 shares worth about $995,000.
• Several analysts turned more positive on VRSN, with Citigroup and Robert W. Baird raising price targets; the stock now carries a consensus Moderate Buy rating and a target price of $327.67.
• VeriSign reported better-than-expected Q1 results, posting EPS of $2.34 versus estimates of $2.30 and revenue of $428.9 million, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share.

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA lessened its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 96.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,005 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 95,574 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA's holdings in VeriSign were worth $995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised 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 worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 104.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in VeriSign by 122.1% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 2.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRSN. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $327.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.53, for a total value of $820,149.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 429,439 shares of the company's stock, valued at $106,728,474.67. This trade represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 20,196 shares of company stock valued at $5,559,420 over the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $255.62 on Monday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25 and a beta of 0.69. The stock's fifty day moving average is $281.51 and its 200-day moving average is $256.27.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

About VeriSign

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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