VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Holdings Lifted by Willis Investment Counsel

Willis Investment Counsel grew its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 57.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,493 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st 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. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.00, for a total transaction of $136,452.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,603,800. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.28, for a total transaction of $496,560.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 414,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,812,499.72. This represents a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,656 shares of company stock valued at $2,395,118. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $270.90 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $310.60. The firm has a market cap of $24.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.75 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $237.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.43.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.84% and a negative return on equity of 40.40%. The business had revenue of $425.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a boost from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $297.00.

VeriSign Profile

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.