The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 41,334 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,398,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total value of $140,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,752,855.72. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total value of $960,828.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 398,089 shares in the company, valued at $115,907,593.24. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,020,624. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.0%

VeriSign stock opened at $291.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.66 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $275.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.37.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.21 EPS. Research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 35.14%.

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.