VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells 3,300 Shares of Company Stock

Key Points

• VeriSign CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares at an average price of $278.78, generating $919,974. The transaction was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and reduced his direct ownership by 0.86% to 381,727 shares.
• The sale continues a pattern of weekly 3,300-share disposals by Bidzos dating back to July, with total sale prices generally ranging from roughly $878,000 to $1.01 million per transaction.
• VeriSign shares recently traded at $282.01, while the company reported quarterly earnings and revenue slightly above analyst expectations. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $333.

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total value of $919,974.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 381,727 shares in the company, valued at $106,417,853.06. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Tuesday, September 22nd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total value of $1,005,642.00.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total value of $978,714.00.
• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total value of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total value of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value of $916,905.00.
• On Tuesday, August 4th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00.
• On Tuesday, July 21st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.44, for a total transaction of $892,452.00.
• On Tuesday, July 7th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.8%

VRSN traded up $2.17 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $282.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 664,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 806,333. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $288.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.14. The firm has a market cap of $25.47 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.VeriSign's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded VeriSign from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $333.00.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,044,157,000 after buying an additional 73,583 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 1.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $312,900,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN provides critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registries for the .com and .net top-level domains and supports the security, stability and availability of these domains worldwide. VeriSign also operates the .name and .cc registries and provides backend registry services for additional top-level domains.

In addition to registry operations, VeriSign offers domain name system (DNS) services designed to help organizations maintain reliable online access.

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