VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells $978,714.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total transaction of $978,714.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 388,327 shares in the company, valued at $115,170,021.66. This represents a 0.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total transaction of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00.
• On Tuesday, August 4th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00.
• On Tuesday, July 21st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.44, for a total transaction of $892,452.00.
• On Tuesday, July 7th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total value of $828,102.00.
• On Tuesday, June 23rd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.53, for a total value of $820,149.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $303.12 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $285.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.22. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VRSN. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.00.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 28.2% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after buying an additional 1,454 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 4,062 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its holdings in VeriSign by 971.9% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 171,145 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $43,053,000 after acquiring an additional 155,179 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 1,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign’s services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.