NewEdge Advisors LLC Sells 5,816 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

NewEdge Advisors LLC reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 97.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 173 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,816 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $43,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in VeriSign by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,285,000 after acquiring an additional 321,737 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 14.1% in 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. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 246,887 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $312,900,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. 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 given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $328.75.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,624. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $294.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The business’s fifty day moving average is $274.52 and its 200 day moving average is $266.19.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

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.