OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Grows Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 15.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,177 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,938 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 872 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. One Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 6.1% during the first quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 422,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.23, for a total transaction of $67,307.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 36,051 shares in the company, valued at $9,706,010.73. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 21,300 shares of company stock worth $5,770,842 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush increased their price target on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.9%

VRSN opened at $274.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.82 billion, a PE ratio of 29.81 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.60. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

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.