Insider Selling: VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells 2,000 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Rating) CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.12, for a total value of $400,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 672,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,569,493.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

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

D James Bidzos purchased 2,000 shares VeriSign stock on Thursday, 22 December. The stock was purchased at an average price $202.25, totaling $404,500.00.

On Thursday, December 15th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.41, for a total transaction of $404,820.00.

On Tuesday, December 13th, D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.15, for a total transaction of $418,300.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock traded down $1.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $203.43. The company had a trading volume of 402,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 707,736. The firm has a market cap of $21.57 billion, a PE ratio of 27.05 and a beta of 0.99. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.25 and a 12 month high of $257.03. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $192.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.61.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 27th. The information services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. VeriSign had a net margin of 59.07% and a negative return on equity of 47.71%. The company had revenue of $357.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $356.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. VeriSign's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth $233,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in VeriSign by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 158,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $27,503,000 after acquiring an additional 10,674 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 96.3% during the third quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 375 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the third quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter worth about $287,000. 91.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, December 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $243.00 price objective on the stock.

VeriSign Company 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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