Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Sells 2,783 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC lessened its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,769 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,783 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $312,900,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 13.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 426,492 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 191.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 626,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $152,225,000 after acquiring an additional 411,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1,035.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 383,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $288.09 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $282.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $255.31. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $26.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total transaction of $146,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,872,615.95. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign 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 sale, the chief executive officer 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 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 have sold a total of 9,796 shares of company stock valued at $2,754,418 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.67.

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.