2,423 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Acquired by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 12.3% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 104.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in VeriSign by 122.1% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Trading Up 3.2%

VeriSign stock opened at $290.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $272.96 and a 200 day moving average of $264.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value of $916,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 401,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,525,933.65. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total value of $146,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 34,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,100,984.85. The trade was a 1.43% 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.75.

VeriSign 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.