VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto Sells 500 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.07, for a total transaction of $155,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,895 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,612.65. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.7%

VRSN stock opened at $311.11 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $324.63. The stock has a market cap of $27.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.45 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50-day moving average is $298.85 and its 200 day moving average is $273.54.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The firm had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.27 earnings per share. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 34.84%.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,116,154,000. Aberdeen Group plc increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 33,723.8% in the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,770,508 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $781,311,000 after purchasing an additional 2,762,317 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $172,641,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $145,362,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price objective on VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.00.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc. operates critical internet infrastructure, best known for managing the domain-name registries for .com and .net. It provides the systems that allow domain names in these extensions to be registered and resolved through the Domain Name System, working with registrars that serve businesses and individuals. The company also provides registry services for other domain extensions and supports the security and stability of the internet’s naming infrastructure. Its services are used globally through a network of registrars and other internet service providers.