Engineers Gate Manager LP trimmed its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN – Free Report) by 78.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,136 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 34,169 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 208.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,324,000 after purchasing an additional 9,046 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,973,000 after purchasing an additional 5,267 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $944,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 454,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,370,000 after buying an additional 130,683 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total transaction of $828,102.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 426,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,935,320.66. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,096,482 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.
VeriSign Trading Up 2.0%
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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million during 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. Equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.
VeriSign Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.14%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $333.00.
View Our Latest Stock Report on VeriSign
VeriSign Company Profile
VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.
VeriSign’s services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.
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