Westpac Banking Corp Trims Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Westpac Banking Corp cut its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 27.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,809 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,573 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.25.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $262.59 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $277.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $258.96. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02 and a beta of 0.71.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 422,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. This represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.23, for a total value of $67,307.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,706,010.73. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 26,300 shares of company stock worth $7,125,942 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.