Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Sells 95,574 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA reduced its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 96.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,005 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 95,574 shares during the quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in VeriSign by 788.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were 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 directly owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This trade represents 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,196 shares of company stock valued at $5,559,420. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $255.62 on Monday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The firm has a market cap of $23.26 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $281.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $256.27.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three investment 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.67.

VeriSign Company 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.