Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Makes New $53.13 Million Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Diamond Hill Capital Management initiated a roughly $53.13 million VeriSign stake by purchasing 211,217 shares, while institutional investors collectively own 92.9% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish: VeriSign has a consensus “Buy” rating and a $328.75 target price, with several firms recently raising their targets.
• VeriSign reported quarterly EPS of $2.38 and revenue of $434.6 million, exceeding estimates, while revenue increased 6% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, yielding about 1.1% annually.

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 211,217 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $53,134,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor owned about 0.23% of VeriSign as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Danske Bank A S raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 64,246 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,609,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 146,100 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $35,495,000 after purchasing an additional 22,020 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 174,140 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $41,886,000 after purchasing an additional 3,691 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in VeriSign by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 49,688 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,179,000 after purchasing an additional 11,249 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,973,000 after purchasing an additional 5,267 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 409,639 shares in the company, valued at $121,474,349.06. This trade represents a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,087 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,752,855.72. This trade represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 33,200 shares of company stock worth $9,142,891 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $284.24 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $273.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.65.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. VeriSign's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.14%.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign's registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.

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