Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $3.16 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC trimmed its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 36.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,258 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,792 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRSN. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $3,348,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $45,526,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $367,000. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.40, for a total value of $1,402,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 553,625 shares in the company, valued at $155,236,450. The trade was a 0.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total transaction of $112,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,579,769.95. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,002 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,659. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRSN. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN traded up $7.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $285.02. 670,867 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 756,691. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $265.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.92. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $172.49 and a 1-year high of $288.95. The firm has a market cap of $26.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.63 and a beta of 0.80.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced 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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The business had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. VeriSign's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

About VeriSign

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.