ING Groep NV Trims Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

ING Groep NV cut its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,886 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $312,900,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,199,318,000 after purchasing an additional 861,065 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 13.8% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $985,063,000 after purchasing an additional 426,492 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its stake in VeriSign by 191.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 626,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $152,225,000 after purchasing an additional 411,728 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in VeriSign by 1,035.6% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,651,000 after purchasing an additional 383,771 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $283.41 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $280.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $254.76.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The business had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.50 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSN. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total transaction of $146,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,051 shares in the company, valued at $10,872,615.95. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 9,796 shares of company stock worth $2,754,418 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

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.