Jupiter Topco LLC Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,774 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,954,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in VeriSign by 120.8% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.2%

VRSN opened at $293.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $278.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.72. The stock has a market cap of $26.49 billion, a PE ratio of 31.82 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 is currently 35.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VRSN. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.00.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 422,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $10,998,235. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.