Trust Co. of Oklahoma Takes $236,000 Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Trust Co. of Oklahoma acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 930 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 106.5% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.8%

VRSN opened at $279.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.28 billion, a PE ratio of 34.99 and a beta of 0.77. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $172.49 and a 1-year high of $288.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $266.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $235.06.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.92 earnings per share.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,579,769.95. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,002 shares of company stock worth $2,525,659 over the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRSN. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

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. 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.