VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Purchased by Wellington Management Group LLP

Key Points

• Wellington Management nearly doubled its VeriSign stake in the second quarter, increasing holdings by 93.9% to 10,762 shares valued at approximately $2.7 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 92.9% of VRSN.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with the stock carrying an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $333. Wedbush and JPMorgan recently raised their price targets, while Zacks upgraded the shares to “strong buy.”
• VeriSign reported quarterly revenue of $434.6 million, up 6% year over year, and EPS of $2.38, exceeding estimates. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, while insiders have sold $11.0 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 93.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,762 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,212 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP's holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Groupe la Francaise boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.8% during the first quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 295 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSN. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $333.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total transaction of $828,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 426,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $106,935,320.66. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,001,408 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $288.85 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $281.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $271.22. The company has a market cap of $26.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. VeriSign's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign's services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.