VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Bought by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. by 21.7% during Q2, owning 17,717 shares valued at $5,117,000 after purchasing an additional 3,160 shares.
• VeriSign recently announced a $1.11 billion stock buyback plan, indicating confidence from leadership regarding the stock's valuation.
• The company reported $2.21 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $409.90 million, improving by 5.9% year-over-year.

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,717 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,160 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 2.9% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 92,320 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,662,000 after buying an additional 2,641 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter worth approximately $227,000. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in VeriSign by 5.6% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 19,739 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053 shares during the last quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth approximately $656,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.15, for a total value of $1,320,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 508,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,392,123.80. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 45,706 shares of company stock valued at $12,733,269. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

VeriSign Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of VeriSign stock traded down $3.60 on Friday, hitting $282.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,478,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 660,163. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $277.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $270.13. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.62 and a 52-week high of $310.60. The company has a market capitalization of $26.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68 and a beta of 0.79.

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 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 firm had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.01 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information services provider to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a $0.77 dividend. 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 payout ratio is presently 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.