CX Institutional Purchases 1,843 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

CX Institutional lifted its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 5.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 33,004 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,843 shares during the quarter. CX Institutional’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $8,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Danske Bank A S raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 64,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,609,000 after buying an additional 12,220 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 146,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,495,000 after acquiring an additional 22,020 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 49,688 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,179,000 after acquiring an additional 11,249 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in VeriSign by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 174,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $41,886,000 after acquiring an additional 3,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $13,636,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush lifted their target price on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $298.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $274.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $261.10. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The firm has a market cap of $26.99 billion, a PE ratio of 32.42 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,954,280. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,752,855.72. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,900 shares of company stock worth $7,872,034. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign 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.