D James Bidzos Sells 2,000 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Rating) CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.05, for a total value of $450,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 601,642 shares in the company, valued at $135,399,532.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• On Tuesday, May 16th, D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.67, for a total value of $1,123,350.00.
• On Thursday, May 11th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.95, for a total value of $441,900.00.
• On Tuesday, May 9th, D James Bidzos sold 4,200 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.11, for a total value of $920,262.00.
• On Thursday, April 20th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.88, for a total value of $429,760.00.
• On Tuesday, April 18th, D James Bidzos sold 3,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.25, for a total value of $654,750.00.
• On Thursday, April 13th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.76, for a total value of $431,520.00.
• On Tuesday, April 11th, D James Bidzos sold 6,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.29, for a total value of $1,267,740.00.
• On Thursday, March 23rd, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $400,000.00.
• On Tuesday, March 21st, D James Bidzos sold 8,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.07, for a total value of $1,600,560.00.
• On Thursday, February 23rd, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.22, for a total value of $406,440.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $227.41 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $155.25 and a one year high of $227.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.88 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $212.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.18.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The information services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $364.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $367.32 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.19% and a net margin of 48.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 6.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vantage Consulting Group Inc raised its position in VeriSign by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vantage Consulting Group Inc now owns 1,774 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in VeriSign by 7.0% in the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 760 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in VeriSign by 0.8% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 4.2% in the first quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Pitcairn Co. raised its position in VeriSign by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 3,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $770,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on VeriSign from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. StockNews.com started coverage on VeriSign in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock.

About VeriSign

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VeriSign, Inc provides domain name registry services and Internet infrastructure, which enables Internet navigation for many of the world’s most recognized domain names. It enables the security, stability, and resiliency of key Internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services.