Meitav Investment House Ltd. Has $5.16 Million Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Meitav Investment House Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 86.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,786 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,664 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after purchasing an additional 321,737 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after purchasing an additional 496,674 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in VeriSign by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,491,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $362,247,000 after buying an additional 246,887 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $312,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in VeriSign by 4.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,049,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $293,335,000 after buying an additional 44,743 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.83, for a total transaction of $63,957.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,286,884.83. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $9,538,548.90. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,315,027. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRSN. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company 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 company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Three equities research 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.67.

VeriSign Trading Up 3.0%

NASDAQ VRSN traded up $7.85 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $266.98. 171,970 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 824,792. The company has a market cap of $24.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.51 and a beta of 0.71. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $279.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $256.81.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. Analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

VeriSign 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.