Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 324.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 347,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 265,751 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned 0.38% of VeriSign worth $86,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% during the third 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 period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 120.8% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,752,855.72. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $140,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,551 shares in the company, valued at $9,954,280. This trade represents a 1.39% 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. Insiders sold a total of 28,900 shares of company stock valued at $7,872,034 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $290.02 on Monday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $26.19 billion, a PE ratio of 31.46 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.73.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.14%.

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.