Belpointe Asset Management LLC Invests $345,000 in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Belpointe Asset Management LLC has acquired a stake of 1,359 shares in VeriSign, Inc., valued at approximately $345,000, during Q1.
• Several hedge funds have increased their holdings in VeriSign, with MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosting its position by 188.8% in Q4.
• VeriSign announced a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, with the total annualized dividend amounting to $3.08, reflecting a 1.1% yield.

Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,359 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,226 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,082,000 after buying an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,414 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,327,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in VeriSign by 188.8% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,936 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,781,000 after purchasing an additional 18,263 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $350,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $563,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN traded down $3.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $282.28. The stock had a trading volume of 1,478,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 660,163. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $277.62 and a 200 day moving average of $269.93. The stock has a market cap of $26.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68 and a beta of 0.79. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.01. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The company had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. VeriSign's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued 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 yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 purchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VRSN. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.50.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.15, for a total value of $1,320,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 508,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,392,123.80. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 45,706 shares of company stock valued at $12,733,269 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

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.