VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Stock Holdings Reduced by Evolve Private Wealth LLC

Evolve Private Wealth LLC reduced its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 34.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,302 shares during the quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 11,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,924,000 after buying an additional 2,304 shares in the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the first quarter valued at approximately $419,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 109.7% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 35,351 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,589,000 after acquiring an additional 18,492 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in VeriSign by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wick Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $408,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.67.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $247.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $22.50 billion, a PE ratio of 27.32 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $282.64 and a 200-day moving average of $256.20. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.80%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $9,538,548.90. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 16,896 shares of company stock valued at $4,739,271 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.