BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments Acquires New Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 31,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,707,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Waddell & Associates LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 3,389 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 2,726 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 98,257 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,872,000 after purchasing an additional 6,767 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 480,465 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $116,729,000 after purchasing an additional 85,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $4,104,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.67.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total transaction of $146,725.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,872,615.95. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 9,796 shares of company stock valued at $2,754,418 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Down 3.9%

VeriSign stock opened at $283.41 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $280.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.79 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

VeriSign Company 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.