Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension Sells 5,026 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension reduced its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,645 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,026 shares during the period. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $22,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSN. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $270.31 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.87 and a beta of 0.71. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $279.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.67.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.80%.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 422,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,513,229.51. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.23, for a total transaction of $67,307.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,706,010.73. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 26,300 shares of company stock valued at $7,125,942 in the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.