SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 19,119 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

SG Americas Securities LLC lowered its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 81.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,461 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 19,119 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter worth about $641,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 118.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 220,285 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $55,924,000 after purchasing an additional 119,368 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new position in VeriSign in the 1st quarter worth approximately $508,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in VeriSign in the 1st quarter worth approximately $351,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 13,362 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,844,000 after buying an additional 2,351 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $270.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 target price on VeriSign in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.67.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.57, for a total transaction of $1,327,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 471,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,200,055.23. The trade was a 1.05% 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. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.87, for a total transaction of $592,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 28,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,769,033.99. This represents a 8.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,839 shares of company stock worth $12,660,539. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.2%

VeriSign stock opened at $251.42 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $261.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.90. The company has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.30 and a beta of 0.76. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $180.67 and a twelve month high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.86% and a negative return on equity of 40.66%. The firm had revenue of $419.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 18th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 18th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.90%.

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.