2,193 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Bought by Applied Finance Capital Management LLC

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,193 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.67.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $270.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.87 and a beta of 0.71. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $279.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.67.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm 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 revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 422,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 stock was 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 in the company, valued at $9,706,010.73. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 26,300 shares of company stock valued at $7,125,942 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.