CX Institutional Acquires 226 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

CX Institutional boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 19.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,399 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 18.6% in the first quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 2,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 1,306.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,580 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,986,000 after purchasing an additional 21,904 shares during the period. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the first quarter valued at $13,691,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 35.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Oklahoma acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the first quarter valued at $236,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $279.90 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $269.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $237.01. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $172.49 and a 1-year high of $288.95. The company has a market cap of $26.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.99 and a beta of 0.77.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The firm had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.44 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total value of $112,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,579,769.95. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,002 shares of company stock worth $4,467,769 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.