VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s What Happened

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday. 735,955 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the previous session’s volume of 809,855 shares. The stock last traded at $295.0720 and had previously closed at $293.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Zacks Research lowered shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $290.11 and a 200-day moving average of $278.87. The company has a market capitalization of $26.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.29 and a beta of 0.69.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 35.14%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total transaction of $919,974.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 381,727 shares in the company, valued at $106,417,853.06. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.38, for a total transaction of $142,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,212,490.10. The trade was a 1.52% 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 a total of 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,485,389 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth $2,116,154,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $172,641,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $145,362,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth $126,420,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN) provides critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registries for the .com and .net top-level domains and supports the security, stability and availability of these domains worldwide. VeriSign also operates the .name and .cc registries and provides backend registry services for additional top-level domains.

In addition to registry operations, VeriSign offers domain name system (DNS) services designed to help organizations maintain reliable online access.