Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 918 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 106.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $279.83 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $235.67. The company has a market capitalization of $26.28 billion, a PE ratio of 34.98 and a beta of 0.77. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $172.49 and a twelve month high of $288.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10. The company had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.92 EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total value of $112,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,579,769.95. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,059,955.65. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,002 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,659. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.