VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Sold by NS Partners Ltd

NS Partners Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,644 shares during the period. NS Partners Ltd’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $24,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first 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. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

VeriSign Trading Down 1.3%

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $288.28 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $275.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.17. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The company has a market capitalization of $26.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 422,839 shares in the company, valued at $112,513,229.51. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,892,248 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

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.