State of Wyoming Buys Shares of 6,456 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 6,456 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,624,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter valued at $717,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $1,156,000. Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter worth about $1,474,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,147,000. Finally, Mill Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $16,840,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,200 shares of company stock valued at $9,142,891. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $284.24 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The company has a market capitalization of $25.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $273.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $263.57.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.75.

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.