Dakota Wealth Management Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,936 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 12.3% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $337.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $247.48 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $235.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.59. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.40% and a net margin of 49.84%.The business had revenue of $425.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 36.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.62, for a total transaction of $79,885.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,551,651.52. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.28, for a total transaction of $496,560.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 414,099 shares in the company, valued at $102,812,499.72. This trade represents a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 9,490 shares of company stock valued at $2,338,621 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

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.