Woodline Partners LP Purchases New Shares in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,963 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,027,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $674,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its holdings in VeriSign by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 573 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,469 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN traded up $1.64 during trading on Friday, reaching $270.32. The stock had a trading volume of 1,539,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 757,223. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $172.49 and a one year high of $288.95. The company has a market capitalization of $25.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79 and a beta of 0.80. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $263.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.66.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.10. The firm had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 23,335 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,579,769.95. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 553,625 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $155,236,450. This trade represents a 0.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,501 shares of company stock worth $2,387,664 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

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.