Comerica Bank Sells 1,527 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Comerica Bank has reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. by 10.7%, selling 1,527 shares and holding a total of 12,683 shares valued at approximately $3.2 million.
• Following a recent quarterly earnings report, VeriSign set its stock buyback plan to repurchase up to $1.11 billion in shares, indicating the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• VeriSign's latest quarterly dividend was paid at $0.77 per share, offering an annualized yield of 1.1%, with a dividend payout ratio of 36.75%.

Comerica Bank lessened its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 10.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,683 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,527 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at about $58,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.3% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,334 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 37,565.5% in the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 10,923 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,773,000 after acquiring an additional 10,894 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 39.7% in the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 16.5% in the first quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 3,048 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $277.50.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.82, for a total transaction of $1,424,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 46,704 shares of company stock worth $12,946,686 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ VRSN traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $273.20. 606,387 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 799,585. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $277.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.74. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.62 and a 52 week high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $25.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.60 and a beta of 0.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $410.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. The firm'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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. 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 currently 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information services provider to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.