3,205 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Purchased by North Star Asset Management Inc.

North Star Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,205 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $806,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,624. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $291.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $275.06 and a 200-day moving average of $266.37. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.66 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $328.75.

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.