Swedbank AB Cuts Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Swedbank AB lessened its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,017 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.07% of VeriSign worth $15,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 872 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 312 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp grew its stake in VeriSign by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on VRSN. Citigroup increased their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.67.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $269.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $279.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $257.32. The stock has a market cap of $24.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83 and a beta of 0.71. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This trade represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,798 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,432. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About VeriSign

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.