Insider Selling: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Sells $154,690.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.38, for a total value of $154,690.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,712,985.10. The trade was a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.8%

NASDAQ VRSN traded up $5.48 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $313.88. 2,748,713 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 837,884. The company has a market capitalization of $28.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.75 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $296.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $317.41.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.06% and a negative return on equity of 38.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter worth $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in VeriSign by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,044,157,000 after purchasing an additional 73,583 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 48.5% during the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $227,252,000 after acquiring an additional 298,895 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.