Cibc World Market Inc. Invests $2.11 Million in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

by · The Markets Daily

Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN – Free Report) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 8,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,110,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $312,900,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,199,318,000 after purchasing an additional 861,065 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 13.8% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $985,063,000 after purchasing an additional 426,492 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 191.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 626,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $152,225,000 after purchasing an additional 411,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1,035.6% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,651,000 after purchasing an additional 383,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird upped 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.67.

Read Our Latest Analysis on VRSN

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 9,796 shares of company stock worth $2,754,418 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $283.89 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $281.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $255.03. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The firm 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 firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

VeriSign Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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