Ethic Inc. Purchases 3,053 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

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Ethic Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 38.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,011 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,053 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 35.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the period. Cache Advisors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $685,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its holdings in VeriSign by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after purchasing an additional 455,844 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 358.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 70,017 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,775,000 after purchasing an additional 54,759 shares during the period. Finally, OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in VeriSign during the first quarter valued at about $329,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

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 40,006 shares of company stock worth $11,153,394 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a 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 analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $277.50.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ VRSN traded up $2.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $271.42. 668,764 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,252,645. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $279.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.46. 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 $25.35 billion, a PE ratio of 32.39 and a beta of 0.78.

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

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information services provider to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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%.

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.