Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Increases Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. by 2.9%, acquiring an additional 2,641 shares and bringing its total ownership to 92,320 shares valued at approximately $26.66 million.
• VeriSign reported a Q2 earnings per share of $2.21, exceeding analysts' expectations, while also announcing a $1.11 billion share repurchase program, reflecting management's confidence in the stock's valuation.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 1.1% and a payout ratio of 36.75%.

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 92,320 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,641 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC owned approximately 0.10% of VeriSign worth $26,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $563,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 22,788 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in VeriSign by 55.2% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,149 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 6,778 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,027,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.48, for a total transaction of $576,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 476,439 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $137,443,122.72. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 700 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total value of $189,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,126,680. This represents a 4.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 45,706 shares of company stock valued at $12,733,269. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $277.50.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN traded down $3.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $282.28. 1,478,546 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 660,163. The company has a market cap of $26.37 billion, a PE ratio of 33.68 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $277.62 and a 200 day moving average of $270.13. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.62 and a 52-week high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.35 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business 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 authorizes the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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