VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Sold by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group reduced its VeriSign stake by 4.5% in the second quarter, selling 6,005 shares and retaining 126,697 shares valued at approximately $31.9 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.9% of VRSN.
• VeriSign reported quarterly earnings of $2.38 per share, topping estimates by $0.02, while revenue increased 6% year over year to $434.6 million. The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.81, representing a 1.1% yield.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Buy” rating and a $333 price target. Shares opened at $288.85, compared with a 52-week range of $208.86 to $312.48.

Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,697 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,005 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of VeriSign worth $31,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted 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 during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $288.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.33 and a beta of 0.70. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $281.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.22. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 426,139 shares in the company, valued at $106,935,320.66. This represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,001,408. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $333.00.

VeriSign 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.

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