Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN – Free Report) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 686,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $172,641,000.
Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $312,900,000. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $149,686,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $145,362,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter worth approximately $126,420,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity at VeriSign
In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,624. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
View Our Latest Stock Report on VeriSign
VeriSign Stock Down 0.3%
VRSN stock opened at $292.99 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $273.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.69. The stock has a market cap of $26.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.
VeriSign Announces Dividend
The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.
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.
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