Ethic Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Ethic Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 21.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,362 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,351 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at about $641,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in VeriSign by 118.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 220,285 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $55,924,000 after purchasing an additional 119,368 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at about $508,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at about $351,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 35.6% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $250.58 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.62 and a fifty-two week high of $310.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 29.90 and a beta of 0.79. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $274.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $274.39.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The business had revenue of $419.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 18th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.54, for a total transaction of $523,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 460,439 shares in the company, valued at $120,423,216.06. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.92, for a total value of $131,722.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 34,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,988,971.88. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,706 shares of company stock worth $12,451,906 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

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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