LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Invests $8.68 Million in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 34,185 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,679,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 34,326.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $176,980,000 after purchasing an additional 695,102 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in VeriSign by 268.8% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $143,319,000 after purchasing an additional 504,748 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its position in VeriSign by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after purchasing an additional 455,844 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in VeriSign by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $227,062,000 after purchasing an additional 403,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the first quarter valued at $86,014,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $267.42 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $172.49 and a fifty-two week high of $310.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $281.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.78.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.01. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%. The company had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total value of $562,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 515,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $145,112,452.20. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.50, for a total value of $135,019.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,268 shares in the company, valued at $10,043,726. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,505 shares of company stock valued at $11,130,549 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.