True Wealth Design LLC Boosts Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 573 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the quarter. True Wealth Design LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in VeriSign by 55.2% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,149 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,348,000. Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 3,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 32,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,772,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,035,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total value of $170,274.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,059,955.65. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,447 shares of company stock worth $386,654 over the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

VeriSign Trading Up 0.5%

VeriSign stock opened at $283.14 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.39 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $256.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.11. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $168.79 and a 12-month high of $288.95.

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

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 paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.