Insider Selling: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells $916,905.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value of $916,905.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 401,389 shares in the company, valued at $111,525,933.65. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 4th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total value of $927,960.00.
• On Tuesday, July 21st, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.44, for a total value of $892,452.00.
• On Tuesday, July 7th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total transaction of $828,102.00.
• On Tuesday, June 23rd, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.53, for a total transaction of $820,149.00.
• On Tuesday, June 16th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total transaction of $904,926.00.
• On Tuesday, June 9th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.29, for a total transaction of $938,157.00.
• On Tuesday, June 2nd, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $281.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $272.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $264.54.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after buying an additional 321,737 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after buying an additional 496,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of several research reports. Wedbush upped their price objective 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. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Citigroup upped their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average 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.