Mizuho Securities USA LLC Decreases Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its position in VeriSign by 16.8%, now holding 6,514 shares valued at approximately $1.65 million.
• VeriSign announced a stock buyback program authorizing the repurchase of $1.11 billion in outstanding shares, indicating management believes its stock is undervalued.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.2%, reflecting a 36.75% payout ratio.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC trimmed its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 16.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,514 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,319 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 34,326.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $176,980,000 after buying an additional 695,102 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 268.8% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $143,319,000 after buying an additional 504,748 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after buying an additional 455,844 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 403,760 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,327,130 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $273,853,000 after buying an additional 229,311 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.50, for a total transaction of $135,019.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,043,726. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total transaction of $562,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 515,772 shares in the company, valued at $145,112,452.20. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,505 shares of company stock valued at $11,130,549 in the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $267.42 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $172.49 and a fifty-two week high of $310.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $281.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.49. The company has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.78.

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

VeriSign announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st.

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.

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