VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Stock Holdings Trimmed by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

Key Points

• New Age Alpha Advisors cut its VeriSign stake by 92.2% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with just 673 shares valued at about $164,000.
• VeriSign reported better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, with EPS of $2.34 versus estimates of $2.30 and revenue of $428.9 million, up 6.6% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly constructive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $317.67; the shares also recently traded around $285.38 and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share.

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC reduced its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 92.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 673 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,993 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in VeriSign by 788.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the third quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $285.38 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $274.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $252.89. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.53 and a beta of 0.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.VeriSign's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. Analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSN. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $317.67.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.78, for a total transaction of $115,426.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 40,028 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,277,689.84. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $1,355,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,826 shares of company stock valued at $1,821,354. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

VeriSign 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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