VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells $999,405.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.85, for a total transaction of $999,405.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 375,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,607,211.95. This represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, October 6th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.33, for a total transaction of $964,689.00.
• On Tuesday, September 29th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total transaction of $919,974.00.
• On Tuesday, September 22nd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total transaction of $1,005,642.00.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total transaction of $978,714.00.
• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total transaction of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00.
• On Tuesday, August 4th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.6%

VRSN stock opened at $302.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.98 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $291.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.79. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 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 business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. Wedbush lifted their target price on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Zacks Research lowered VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $333.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 120.8% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 40.5% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at about $64,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN) provides critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registries for the .com and .net top-level domains and supports the security, stability and availability of these domains worldwide. VeriSign also operates the .name and .cc registries and provides backend registry services for additional top-level domains.

In addition to registry operations, VeriSign offers domain name system (DNS) services designed to help organizations maintain reliable online access.