VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Stock Position Raised by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd grew its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 159.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,626 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,199,318,000 after acquiring an additional 861,065 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 32.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,003 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $894,414,000 after acquiring an additional 767,363 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 394.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 552,008 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $154,325,000 after purchasing an additional 440,289 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1,035.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,651,000 after purchasing an additional 383,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 174.8% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 576,395 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $161,143,000 after purchasing an additional 366,664 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 332 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.62, for a total value of $79,885.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,551,651.52. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.28, for a total value of $496,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 414,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,812,499.72. This represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 9,490 shares of company stock valued at $2,338,621 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $259.85 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $310.60. The company has a market cap of $23.83 billion, a PE ratio of 29.49 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $235.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $247.68.

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

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. This is a positive change from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.