VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Stock Holdings Trimmed by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC lowered its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 97.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,099 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 43,921 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,199,318,000 after acquiring an additional 861,065 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 394.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 552,008 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $154,325,000 after acquiring an additional 440,289 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $985,063,000 after acquiring an additional 426,492 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in VeriSign by 191.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 626,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $152,225,000 after acquiring an additional 411,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in VeriSign by 1,035.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,651,000 after acquiring an additional 383,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.67.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $294.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.59 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $279.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.49. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were 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 was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total value of $146,725.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,051 shares in the company, valued at $10,872,615.95. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 10,128 shares of company stock worth $2,834,304 in the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.