27,424 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Bought by Oxbow Advisors LLC

Oxbow Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 27,424 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,899,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $2,338,000. Foster & Motley Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,719,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $575,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $116,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,068,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 33,200 shares of company stock valued at $9,142,891. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush increased their price objective on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $276.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $272.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $263.98. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

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.