Westpac Banking Corp Acquires New Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,671 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,116,154,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $312,900,000. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $149,686,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth $145,362,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $126,420,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Wedbush increased their target price on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $281.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.45 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $264.54.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted 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. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.14%.

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.