4,595 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Acquired by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,595 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,156,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in 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 lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 2.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush increased their price objective on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. 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 report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,363,670.54. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. 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 sold 33,200 shares of company stock worth $9,142,891. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Trading Down 4.0%

VeriSign stock opened at $272.77 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $273.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $263.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

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.