Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $18.01 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 74,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,343 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.08% of VeriSign worth $18,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Perpetual Ltd boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 159.6% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 9,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,223,000 after acquiring an additional 5,626 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign in the third quarter valued at about $26,647,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 152.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 308,091 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,922,000 after acquiring an additional 186,029 shares during the last quarter. Sienna Gestion bought a new position in VeriSign in the third quarter valued at about $5,139,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 14.2% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 85,503 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,904,000 after acquiring an additional 10,637 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $1,355,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 9,796 shares of company stock valued at $2,754,418 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $288.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $26.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $282.10 and its 200-day moving average is $255.31. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.80%.

VeriSign Company 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.