Insider Selling: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Sells 500 Shares of Company Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.07, for a total transaction of $155,035.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,612.65. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN traded up $5.27 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $311.11. 619,347 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 842,532. The firm has a market cap of $27.91 billion, a PE ratio of 33.45 and a beta of 0.66. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $324.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $273.24.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $443.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush upped their price objective on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 target price on VeriSign in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $30,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $40,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 40.5% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign during the first quarter worth $64,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc. operates critical internet infrastructure, best known for managing the domain-name registries for .com and .net. It provides the systems that allow domain names in these extensions to be registered and resolved through the Domain Name System, working with registrars that serve businesses and individuals. The company also provides registry services for other domain extensions and supports the security and stability of the internet’s naming infrastructure. Its services are used globally through a network of registrars and other internet service providers.