Redwood Investment Management LLC Takes $1.06 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,272 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,061,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the first quarter worth approximately $508,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 324.4% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 347,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,351,000 after buying an additional 265,751 shares in the last quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 13,443 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,418 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $849,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 4,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,127,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 412,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,118,446.80. This trade represents a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $140,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,954,280. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 28,900 shares of company stock valued at $7,872,034 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $290.02 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.46 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.73. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.75.

About VeriSign

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.