Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group significantly increased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. by 819.5% in Q1, now owning 16,285 shares worth approximately $4.13 million.
• VeriSign's CEO, D James Bidzos, sold 5,000 shares for about $1.38 million, reducing his stake by 0.91% to approximately $150.74 million.
• The company's board initiated a $1.11 billion share buyback plan, representing a potential repurchase of up to 4.1% of outstanding shares, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 819.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,285 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,514 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 39.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 15.4% in the 4th 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 during the period. World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $205,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,570,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total transaction of $1,383,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 544,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $150,743,860.12. The trade was a 0.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,604 shares of company stock worth $11,165,804. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $265.37 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $172.49 and a 1 year high of $310.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $257.59.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 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 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 revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.01 EPS.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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