Sone Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Sone Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,519 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,156,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% in the first 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 first 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 boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 122.1% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total transaction of $146,175.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,100,984.85. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 401,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,525,933.65. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796 in the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $290.79 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $272.96 and its 200 day moving average is $264.96. The firm has a market cap of $26.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

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.