2,985 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Bought by E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted 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 valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.62, for a total transaction of $79,885.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,696 shares in the company, valued at $9,551,651.52. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.28, for a total value of $496,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 414,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,812,499.72. The trade was a 0.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,490 shares of company stock worth $2,338,621. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on VRSN. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $337.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $292.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $251.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.57 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $235.60 and a 200-day moving average of $249.33. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $310.60.

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

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a positive change from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 36.78%.

About VeriSign

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.