1,877 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Bought by Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,877 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $472,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in VeriSign by 788.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $276.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The company’s 50 day moving average is $272.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.41.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.14%.

About VeriSign

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.