Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 21,896 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 21.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 81,932 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 21,896 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $19,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in VeriSign by 788.0% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.67.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total transaction of $904,926.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 432,739 shares in the company, valued at $118,665,688.58. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 16,896 shares of company stock worth $4,739,271 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $264.64 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $283.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $256.22. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The firm has a market cap of $24.08 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.80%.

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.