DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 3,446 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lessened its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,446 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $25,486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 1st quarter valued at about $641,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 118.3% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 220,285 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $55,924,000 after purchasing an additional 119,368 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 1st quarter valued at about $508,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 1st quarter valued at about $351,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 5.4%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $251.94 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.62 and a 12 month high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $23.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.28.

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

VeriSign announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information services provider to repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VRSN. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.92, for a total value of $131,722.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 34,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,988,971.88. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.06, for a total transaction of $528,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 469,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $123,960,062.34. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,706 shares of company stock valued at $10,591,676. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign 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.