1,035 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Bought by Banque Transatlantique SA

Key Points

• Banque Transatlantique SA has made a significant investment of $243,000 in VeriSign, acquiring 1,035 shares of the company.
• VeriSign recently initiated a $1.11 billion stock buyback program, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• The company reported a net margin of 50.05% and a quarterly earnings per share of $2.21, exceeding analyst expectations.

Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,035 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 477.1% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 791,271 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $200,880,000 after buying an additional 654,170 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 75.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,329,640 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $586,417,000 after buying an additional 1,002,510 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 71.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,202,278 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $307,098,000 after buying an additional 500,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 10.4% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 74,240 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,847,000 after buying an additional 7,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.82, for a total value of $1,424,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 526,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $150,035,201.04. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 47,205 shares of company stock valued at $13,082,187 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:VRSN traded up $3.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $280.09. 682,588 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 737,681. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $277.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.94. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.62 and a fifty-two week high of $310.60. The firm has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42 and a beta of 0.79.

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

VeriSign declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $277.50.

About VeriSign

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.