951 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Purchased by Yeomans Consulting Group Inc.

Key Points

• Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. has acquired 951 shares of VeriSign, Inc. ($VRSN), valued at approximately $275,000, according to their latest Form 13F filing.
• VeriSign reported earnings of $2.21 per share for the last quarter, slightly beating the analysts' consensus estimate and demonstrating a 5.9% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company has initiated a $1.11 billion stock repurchase plan which indicates management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 951 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 175.2% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 13,148 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,338,000 after acquiring an additional 8,370 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 1st quarter worth approximately $58,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 208.8% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 3,193 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.2%

VRSN stock opened at $275.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $277.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.65. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.62 and a 52 week high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $410.35 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to repurchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.48, for a total value of $576,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 476,439 shares of the company's stock, valued at $137,443,122.72. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $189,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,126,680. This represents a 4.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,205 shares of company stock valued at $12,587,894. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.50.

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.

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