VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management increased its stake in VeriSign by 122.2% in the first quarter, buying an additional 266,477 shares and bringing its holdings to 484,551 shares worth about $120.3 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive overall, with analysts from firms like Baird and Citigroup raising price targets; the stock currently carries a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $327.67.
• VeriSign beat quarterly earnings expectations, reported revenue growth of 6.6%, and recently paid a $0.81 quarterly dividend as insiders also continued selling shares.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 122.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 484,551 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 266,477 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.53% of VeriSign worth $120,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Three 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 stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $327.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $252.08 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $282.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $256.22. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $22.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $424.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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 $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 20,196 shares of company stock worth $5,559,420 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

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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