Commerce Bank bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN – Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth $2,116,154,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $312,900,000. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $149,686,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $145,362,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $126,420,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRSN. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.
VeriSign Stock Up 0.6%
VRSN opened at $294.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.97 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.19.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Free Report) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $434.60 million during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.
VeriSign Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.14%.
Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign
In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,624 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.
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.
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