BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Increases Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 24.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,304 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 429.2% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st 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 period. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in VeriSign by 788.0% during the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total value of $141,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total transaction of $904,926.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 432,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,665,688.58. This trade represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,896 shares of company stock worth $4,739,271. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.67.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $247.69 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $282.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.22. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

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.