One Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• One Wealth Advisors LLC has acquired a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), purchasing 1,138 shares valued at approximately $329,000 during the second quarter.
• VeriSign reported a quarterly EPS of $2.21, surpassing analysts' expectations, and demonstrated a 5.9% year-over-year revenue growth with a net margin of 50.05%.
• The company initiated a $1.11 billion share repurchase plan, reflecting confidence from management in the stock's valuation as potentially undervalued.

One Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,138 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at $641,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 118.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 220,285 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $55,924,000 after acquiring an additional 119,368 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at $508,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at $351,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 35.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $279.57 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $175.62 and a one year high of $310.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $277.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.36 and a beta of 0.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted 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. 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 analyst estimates of $410.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.01 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's payout ratio is 36.75%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRSN. 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. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.50.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.43, for a total transaction of $1,342,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 498,304 shares of the company's stock, valued at $133,759,742.72. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 45,205 shares of company stock valued at $12,587,894. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign 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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