Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Acquires New Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Gamco Investors has acquired a new position in VeriSign, purchasing 1,383 shares worth approximately $351,000 during the first quarter.
• VeriSign reported earnings of $2.21 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations slightly, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.77, representing an annual yield of 1.1%.
• The company initiated a $1.11 billion share repurchase plan, indicating the board's belief that shares are currently undervalued.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake 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. The firm purchased 1,383 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $351,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 34,326.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $176,980,000 after purchasing an additional 695,102 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 268.8% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $143,319,000 after purchasing an additional 504,748 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% in the 4th 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. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,062,000 after purchasing an additional 403,760 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 1st quarter worth about $86,014,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $273.20. 606,387 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 799,585. The stock has a market cap of $25.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.60 and a beta of 0.79. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.62 and a twelve month high of $310.60. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $277.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $265.74.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $409.90 million during 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%.The firm's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the firm'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 value of $1,424,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 526,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $150,035,201.04. This trade represents a 0.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 46,704 shares of company stock valued at $12,946,686. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup restated 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 two have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.50.

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.