Insider Selling: VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Sells 501 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total value of $143,837.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,843,479.90. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN traded down $3.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $281.39. 532,590 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 756,534. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $281.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $248.82. The firm has a market cap of $26.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $172.49 and a 1 year high of $291.54.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders 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 payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 97 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday.

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.