Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 7,270 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 6.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 97,574 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,270 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned about 0.10% of VeriSign worth $24,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 13,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 106.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded up $4.32 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $286.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 144,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 850,584. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.49 and a 12 month high of $290.38. The stock has a market cap of $26.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $279.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.10.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total transaction of $1,383,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 544,772 shares in the company, valued at $150,743,860.12. This represents a 0.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,503 shares of company stock worth $7,158,975. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign 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.