VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock: Insider Thomas Indelicarto Sells 500 Shares

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.38, for a total value of $154,690.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,395 shares in the company, valued at $9,712,985.10. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $318.03 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $297.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $272.36. The stock has a market cap of $28.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20 and a beta of 0.66. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $324.20.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 34.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,116,154,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $172,641,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth about $145,362,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $126,420,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on VRSN shares. Wedbush raised their target price on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.00.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.