Insider Selling: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells $1,002,111.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.67, for a total value of $1,002,111.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 368,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,910,594.09. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, October 20th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.30, for a total value of $1,010,790.00.
• On Tuesday, October 13th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.85, for a total value of $999,405.00.
• On Tuesday, October 6th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.33, for a total value of $964,689.00.
• On Tuesday, September 29th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total transaction of $919,974.00.
• On Tuesday, September 22nd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total transaction of $1,005,642.00.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total transaction of $978,714.00.
• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total transaction of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00.
• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.4%

VRSN stock opened at $307.21 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $295.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.38. The company has a market cap of $27.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.69 and a beta of 0.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.78.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued 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). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.06% and a negative return on equity of 38.40%. The company had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.58 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.53 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research lowered VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.00.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 208.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,324,000 after purchasing an additional 9,046 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter worth $2,116,154,000. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter worth $944,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 16.1% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 237,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $59,272,000 after purchasing an additional 33,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its position in VeriSign by 86.9% during the first quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 20,786 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,162,000 after buying an additional 9,664 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.