Insider Selling: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Sells $146,725.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total value of $146,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,051 shares in the company, valued at $10,872,615.95. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $294.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a PE ratio of 32.59 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $279.96 and a 200 day moving average of $254.49. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in VeriSign by 788.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on VRSN. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.67.

VeriSign Company 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.