Insider Selling: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells $960,597.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 394,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,959,300.43. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 25th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total value of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value of $916,905.00.
• On Tuesday, August 4th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total value of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was 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 shares were 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 stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction 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 shares were 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.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ VRSN traded up $1.59 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $289.96. The company had a trading volume of 766,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 815,794. The stock has a market cap of $26.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $276.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $267.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $434.60 million for 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 business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 30,008.2% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,563,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,694,816,000 after purchasing an additional 34,448,791 shares in the last quarter. 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 position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,116,154,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $312,900,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth $172,641,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.00.

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.