Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 79,926 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD has increased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. by 53.9%, owning 228,335 shares valued at approximately $57.97 million.
• VeriSign recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share and announced a $1.11 billion share repurchase program.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for VeriSign with a target price increase from $285 to $305.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 53.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 228,335 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 79,926 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.24% of VeriSign worth $57,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in VeriSign by 491.4% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,392 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 6,142 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 9,834 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $252,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $374,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 974,617 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $201,707,000 after purchasing an additional 98,985 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised 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 reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $277.50.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded up $1.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $273.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 826,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 884,858. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $175.62 and a one year high of $310.60. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $278.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $264.87. The stock has a market cap of $25.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.62 and a beta of 0.78.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $410.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

VeriSign declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.82, for a total transaction of $1,424,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 526,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,035,201.04. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,205 shares of company stock valued at $13,084,682. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.