Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. Invests $843,000 in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $843,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 872 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 49,688 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,179,000 after acquiring an additional 11,249 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 158,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,613,000 after acquiring an additional 5,043 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 17,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,448 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $274.05 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.58. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.06). VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.40% and a net margin of 49.84%.The firm had revenue of $425.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 36.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.08, for a total value of $124,041.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,501,044.20. This represents a 1.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,490 shares of company stock valued at $626,690. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.