Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd Acquires 4,513 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 51,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,513 shares during the period. VeriSign comprises about 2.3% of Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $12,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the period. Aviva PLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 72,763 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,678,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 354,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,049,000 after purchasing an additional 30,211 shares during the period. Xponance LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 13,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,370,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 16,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. 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. boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $279.57 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $282.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.51. The firm has a market cap of $25.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The firm had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.29, for a total value of $938,157.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 436,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $123,961,527.31. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction 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. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $9,538,548.90. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,596 shares of company stock worth $3,834,345. 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.