Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases New Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $491,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,285,000 after buying an additional 321,737 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after acquiring an additional 496,674 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,491,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $362,247,000 after acquiring an additional 246,887 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $312,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 4.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,049,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $293,335,000 after purchasing an additional 44,743 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wedbush initiated coverage on VeriSign in a research note on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.25.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.9%

VRSN stock opened at $277.66 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The company has a market capitalization of $25.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.68 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $278.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.35.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,538,548.90. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total value of $141,770.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,363,670.54. The trade was a 1.35% 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,300 shares of company stock worth $7,125,942. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.