VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Stock: Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Position

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group cut its VeriSign stake by 4.6% in the third quarter, selling 9,268 shares and ending the period with 190,722 shares valued at about $53.8 million. Institutional investors own 92.9% of the stock.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $352; four analysts rate VRSN Buy and two rate it Hold.
• VeriSign’s latest quarterly results showed revenue up 5.7% year over year to $443 million, but EPS of $2.35 missed the $2.46 consensus. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 4.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 190,722 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 9,268 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of VeriSign worth $53,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,044,157,000 after buying an additional 73,583 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 48.5% in the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,252,000 after acquiring an additional 298,895 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 target price on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $352.00.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of VRSN opened at $313.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $28.16 billion, a PE ratio of 32.95 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $296.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $272.01. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $317.41.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.27 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. VeriSign's payout ratio is presently 34.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.67, for a total value of $1,002,111.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 368,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at $111,910,594.09. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.38, for a total transaction of $154,690.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,712,985.10. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 42,556 shares of company stock worth $12,527,236 over the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company's services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.

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