Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 56,395 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,187,000. VeriSign makes up 2.3% of Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in VeriSign by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after acquiring an additional 321,737 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after acquiring an additional 496,674 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after acquiring an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,491,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $362,247,000 after purchasing an additional 246,887 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $281.80 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $272.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $264.63. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on VRSN. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

VeriSign Company 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.