Foster & Motley Inc. Buys New Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Key Points

• Foster & Motley Inc. has acquired 4,109 shares of VeriSign, Inc. during Q1, valuing the investment at approximately $1,043,000.
• VeriSign recently announced a $1.11 billion stock repurchase program as well as a quarterly dividend of $0.77 to be paid on August 27th.
• The company's stock performance reflects a 1-year low of $172.49 and a high of $310.60, with a current market cap of $25.12 billion.

Foster & Motley Inc. purchased a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,109 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,043,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 47.0% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,376 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,805,000 after purchasing an additional 15,147 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,746 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,017,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 117,807 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $24,381,000 after buying an additional 15,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $860,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total transaction of $143,837.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,843,479.90. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total value of $562,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 515,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $145,112,452.20. This trade represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,604 shares of company stock valued at $11,165,804 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.3%

NASDAQ VRSN traded down $3.50 during trading on Friday, hitting $265.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,337,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 946,763. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $281.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $257.59. The firm has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $172.49 and a 52 week high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.35 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%. VeriSign's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is 36.75%.

VeriSign announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Company 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.