Captrust Financial Advisors Purchases 79,249 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 655,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 79,249 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in VeriSign were worth $159,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $312,900,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,199,318,000 after acquiring an additional 861,065 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $985,063,000 after purchasing an additional 426,492 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in VeriSign by 191.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 626,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $152,225,000 after purchasing an additional 411,728 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 1,035.6% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,651,000 after purchasing an additional 383,771 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VRSN. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.67.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $273.87 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $283.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $255.99. The company has a market cap of $24.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.26 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This trade represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total value of $141,770.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,596 shares of company stock worth $3,834,345. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.