SteelPeak Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 8,385 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,037,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during 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 shares of VeriSign by 104.5% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% during the 1st 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 in 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 worth $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 40,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,277,689.84. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.20, for a total transaction of $1,241,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 416,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,275,771.80. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 9,490 shares of company stock worth $2,338,621 over the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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 VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $259.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $310.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $235.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $247.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.84% and a negative return on equity of 40.40%. The business had revenue of $425.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 19th. This is an increase from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 36.78%.

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.