Redwood Investment Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 4,671 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Groupe la Francaise grew its position in VeriSign by 2.8% during the first quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 2.1% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSN. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were 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 directly owned 398,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,907,593.24. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total transaction of $146,175.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,624. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $292.99 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $26.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.78 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $273.92 and a 200-day moving average of $265.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend 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.