Dakota Wealth Management Invests $956,000 in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 3,936 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,779 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 452 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 51.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 147 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, WealthCollab LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 312 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of VeriSign from $337.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $247.48 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $235.59 and a 200-day moving average of $248.59. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $310.60.

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

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders 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. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 36.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.20, for a total value of $1,241,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 416,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $103,275,771.80. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.78, for a total transaction of $115,426.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 40,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,277,689.84. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,490 shares of company stock worth $2,338,621. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.