waypoint wealth counsel Buys Shares of 1,020 VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

waypoint wealth counsel bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,020 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 13,000.0% in the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 106.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $285.03 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $275.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $241.83. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $172.49 and a 52-week high of $288.95. The stock has a market cap of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84 and a beta of 0.77.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.10. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.23% and a negative return on equity of 41.37%. The company had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.92 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total transaction of $112,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,335 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,579,769.95. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 25,002 shares of company stock worth $7,013,599. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Company 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.

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