D James Bidzos Sells 3,300 Shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.53, for a total transaction of $820,149.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 429,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,728,474.67. The trade was a 0.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 16th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total value of $904,926.00.
• On Tuesday, June 9th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.29, for a total value of $938,157.00.
• On Tuesday, June 2nd, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $250.85 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $281.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.23.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.