VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Position Trimmed by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA trimmed its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 7.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,194 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.10% of VeriSign worth $24,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,044,157,000 after buying an additional 73,583 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 48.5% in the 1st quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $227,252,000 after buying an additional 298,895 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 394,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,959,300.43. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,856 shares of company stock worth $13,565,663. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRSN. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush lifted their target price on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.00.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $314.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $28.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24 and a beta of 0.66. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $324.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $299.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $273.85.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.84%.

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.