Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 14.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,744 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cigna Investments Inc. New grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 3,661 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 1.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,076,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $611,440,000 after acquiring an additional 52,942 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 6.4% during the first quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 37,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,403,000 after acquiring an additional 2,255 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. CCLA Investment Management Ltd now owns 249,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $49,510,000 after purchasing an additional 8,814 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 174.4% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,918 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,176,000 after purchasing an additional 3,761 shares in the last quarter. 89.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
VeriSign stock opened at $221.00 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $184.60 and a 12-month high of $226.18. The stock has a market cap of $24.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.04 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $216.14.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 22nd. The information services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.21% and a net margin of 49.42%. The business had revenue of $323.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $322.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.
In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.69, for a total transaction of $2,444,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 843,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $171,745,297.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,226 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Friday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $245,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,034,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,391 shares of company stock worth $7,244,376 over the last 90 days. 1.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $235.00 to $245.00 in a report on Friday, April 23rd. Zacks Investment Research downgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $213.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup Inc. 3% Minimum Coupon Principal Protected Based Upon Russell raised their target price on VeriSign from $235.00 to $245.00 in a report on Friday, April 23rd.
VeriSign Profile
VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. It enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of the 13 internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which support global e-commerce.
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