Insider Selling: VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells 2,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• VeriSign CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of stock on August 13th at an average price of $266.45, bringing his total ownership to 506,772 shares valued at over $135 million.
• The company reported a 5.9% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue, totaling $409.90 million, and earnings per share of $2.21, slightly above analysts' expectations.
• VeriSign's board recently approved a $1.11 billion share repurchase program and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, reflecting confidence in the company's valuation.

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.45, for a total transaction of $532,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 506,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,029,399.40. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 12th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.15, for a total transaction of $1,320,750.00.
• On Wednesday, July 16th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total transaction of $562,700.00.
• On Tuesday, July 15th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.08, for a total transaction of $1,410,400.00.
• On Wednesday, July 9th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total transaction of $578,580.00.
• On Tuesday, July 8th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.82, for a total transaction of $1,424,100.00.
• On Wednesday, June 18th, D James Bidzos sold 4,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.87, for a total transaction of $1,127,480.00.
• On Tuesday, June 17th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.67, for a total transaction of $1,418,350.00.
• On Wednesday, June 11th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $558,560.00.
• On Tuesday, June 10th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total transaction of $1,383,550.00.
• On Wednesday, May 21st, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.66, for a total transaction of $561,320.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock traded down $0.68 on Thursday, reaching $266.82. 859,735 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,182,776. The company has a market cap of $24.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $280.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $260.93. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.62 and a 1 year high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $410.35 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.05% and a negative return on equity of 40.87%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share.

VeriSign announced that its board has approved a share 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 reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $300,249,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 75.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,329,640 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $586,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,510 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 34,326.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $176,980,000 after acquiring an additional 695,102 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in VeriSign by 477.1% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 791,271 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $200,880,000 after acquiring an additional 654,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in VeriSign by 161.4% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 860,068 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $248,388,000 after acquiring an additional 531,041 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st.

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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