Citigroup Inc. Sells 31,911 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Citigroup Inc. decreased its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 134,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 31,911 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $37,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 104.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in VeriSign by 122.1% during 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 period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 2.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN opened at $213.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $238.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $254.17. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.84% and a negative return on equity of 40.40%. The firm had revenue of $425.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.04 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This is a boost from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 36.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.07, for a total transaction of $125,285.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,609 shares in the company, valued at $7,904,462.63. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.59, for a total transaction of $1,222,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 434,099 shares in the company, valued at $106,176,274.41. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 23,662 shares of company stock worth $5,799,697 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of VeriSign from $337.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $292.00.

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.