Elevate Capital Advisors LLC Has $1.51 Million Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Elevate Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. by 16.9%, now holding 5,215 shares valued at approximately $1.51 million as of its latest filing.
• VeriSign reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the recent quarter, exceeding estimates, with a net margin of 50.05% and a 5.9% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company has initiated a $1.11 billion share buyback program, indicating the board's belief that its shares are undervalued.

Elevate Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 16.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,215 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,064 shares during the period. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,514,290 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,669,263,000 after purchasing an additional 119,555 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 75.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,329,640 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $586,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,510 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 71.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,202,278 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $307,098,000 after purchasing an additional 500,223 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,157,422 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $293,835,000 after purchasing an additional 60,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,024,095 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $259,987,000 after purchasing an additional 49,478 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $272.98 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $276.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.62 and a 12-month high of $310.60. The company has a market cap of $25.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.58 and a beta of 0.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. VeriSign's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $277.50.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.43, for a total transaction of $1,342,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 498,304 shares of the company's stock, valued at $133,759,742.72. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,205 shares of company stock worth $12,587,894. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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