Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 358 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,078 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 358 shares during the quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 97 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in VeriSign in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $277.50.

VeriSign Trading Down 5.4%

Shares of VRSN opened at $251.94 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $23.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $274.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $274.28. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.62 and a 12-month high of $310.60.

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

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information services provider to repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.92, for a total transaction of $131,722.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 34,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,988,971.88. This trade represents a 1.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.06, for a total value of $528,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,706 shares of company stock valued at $10,591,676. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.