Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Grows Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 122.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares during the quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $635,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $3,712,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 268.8% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $143,319,000 after acquiring an additional 504,748 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 22,788 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,716,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in VeriSign by 96.2% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 20,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,172,000 after acquiring an additional 9,884 shares during the period. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $252,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total value of $112,788.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,579,769.95. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total value of $170,274.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,059,955.65. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of VRSN opened at $281.64 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $168.70 and a twelve month high of $288.95. The stock has a market cap of $26.45 billion, a PE ratio of 35.21 and a beta of 0.80. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $255.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.07.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.10. The company had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.65%.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.