Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 7,792 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC decreased its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 19.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,704 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,792 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Strategy Asset Managers LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $654,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 357,611 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $99,977,000 after buying an additional 36,829 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 27,719 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,749,000 after buying an additional 2,435 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 80,494 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,504,000 after buying an additional 18,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 675,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $188,880,000 after buying an additional 11,440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.08, for a total value of $124,041.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,115 shares in the company, valued at $7,501,044.20. This trade represents a 1.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.20, for a total value of $1,241,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 416,099 shares in the company, valued at $103,275,771.80. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 9,158 shares of company stock worth $2,258,666 over the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $274.51 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $236.38 and a 200-day moving average of $247.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $425.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.04 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.84% and a negative return on equity of 40.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.00 earnings per share.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 36.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on VeriSign from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.00.

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.