VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D James Bidzos Sells 3,300 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total value of $919,974.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 381,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,417,853.06. This represents a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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, September 22nd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total transaction of $1,005,642.00.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total transaction of $978,714.00.
• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total transaction of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00.
• On Tuesday, August 4th, D. 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. 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. 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. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock traded up $2.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $282.01. 664,321 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 806,333. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.59 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $288.46 and a 200-day moving average of $277.14.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on VRSN. Zacks Research downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Wedbush boosted their target price on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Groupe la Francaise grew its stake in VeriSign by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Strive Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.3% in the second quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 6.1% in the first quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 295 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN) provides critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registries for the .com and .net top-level domains and supports the security, stability and availability of these domains worldwide. VeriSign also operates the .name and .cc registries and provides backend registry services for additional top-level domains.

In addition to registry operations, VeriSign offers domain name system (DNS) services designed to help organizations maintain reliable online access.