VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Position Increased by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 34.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,829 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,930 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc's holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 47.0% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,376 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,805,000 after purchasing an additional 15,147 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 29,943 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,197,000 after purchasing an additional 8,900 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,746 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,017,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS raised its stake in VeriSign by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 15,210 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,148,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $542,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on VRSN shares. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock traded down $3.50 on Friday, reaching $265.37. 1,337,262 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 946,763. The company's 50-day moving average is $281.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $257.26. The firm has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $172.49 and a 1-year high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.01. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%. The firm had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $410.35 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.75%.

VeriSign announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.11 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information services provider to repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total transaction of $143,837.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,843,479.90. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total value of $562,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 515,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $145,112,452.20. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,604 shares of company stock worth $11,165,804. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.