21,737 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Purchased by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,737 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,130,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 40.5% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $64,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $312.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.55 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $297.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $272.67. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $324.63.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.06% and a negative return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $443.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $440.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price objective on VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research cut VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 394,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,959,300.43. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 45,856 shares of company stock worth $13,556,803 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.