3,283 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Bought by Perpetual Ltd

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd invested $948,000 in VeriSign, acquiring 3,283 shares during the second quarter.
• Institutional investors hold a significant portion, with 92.90% of VeriSign's shares owned by them, reflecting strong interest in the stock.
• VeriSign's CEO recently sold 2,000 shares for approximately $576,960, indicating insider trading activity alongside a broader stock buyback authorization worth $1.11 billion.

Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,283 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $948,000.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.50.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock traded up $1.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $284.45. 357,040 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 859,083. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $175.62 and a 1-year high of $310.60. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $277.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.64. The company has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94 and a beta of 0.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The company had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.01 earnings per share. 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.15, for a total value of $1,320,750.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 45,706 shares of company stock valued at $12,733,269 over the last quarter. 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.