Toronto Dominion Bank Has $9.30 Million Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Toronto Dominion Bank cut its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,937 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 371 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,348,000. Shell Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 3,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 32,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,772,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $6,035,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 122.9% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.6%

VRSN stock opened at $280.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $26.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $258.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.57. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.79 and a 1-year high of $288.95.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,735 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,955.65. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total transaction of $112,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,579,769.95. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

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.