Corient Private Wealth LP Invests $18.69 Million in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 74,287 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $18,687,000. Corient Private Wealth LP owned approximately 0.08% of VeriSign as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its position in VeriSign by 788.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective 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. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total value of $140,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,752,855.72. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total value of $960,828.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 398,089 shares in the company, valued at $115,907,593.24. This represents a 0.82% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,020,624. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $291.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.66 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $275.06 and its 200-day moving average is $266.37.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio 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.