VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Position Boosted by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 974,617 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 98,985 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.01% of VeriSign worth $201,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $674,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. CX Institutional lifted its stake in VeriSign by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock traded down $1.73 on Tuesday, hitting $282.82. The company had a trading volume of 502,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,206. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.80 and a 52 week high of $290.57. The company has a market cap of $26.56 billion, a PE ratio of 35.37 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $218.18.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a -- dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

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.