VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $324.63 and last traded at $322.32, with a volume of 43,378 shares. The stock had previously closed at $318.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 target price on shares of VeriSign in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $297.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $272.36. The stock has a market cap of $28.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06 and a beta of 0.66.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Danny Mcpherson sold 3,256 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.89, for a total value of $989,465.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,283,231.72. This represents a 9.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $311.99, for a total transaction of $1,029,567.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 365,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,947,171.73. The trade was a 0.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 45,856 shares of company stock valued at $13,556,803. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,044,157,000 after purchasing an additional 73,583 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP increased its position in VeriSign by 48.5% during the 1st quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $227,252,000 after purchasing an additional 298,895 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.