Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Trims Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• The Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. by 3.2% during the second quarter, holding 27,256 shares valued at $7.87 million.
• Research analysts have set a new price target for VeriSign, increasing it from $285.00 to $305.00, with an overall consensus rating of "Buy."
• VeriSign recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share and announced a $1.11 billion share buyback program to repurchase 4.1% of its outstanding shares.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,256 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 912 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 56.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 97 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 13,000.0% during the 1st quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 106.5% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

VeriSign Stock Up 0.3%

VeriSign stock opened at $284.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.57 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $277.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.74. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.62 and a twelve month high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.35 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.05% and a negative return on equity of 40.87%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

VeriSign announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information services provider to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 508,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,392,123.80. This represents a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 45,706 shares of company stock worth $12,733,269 in the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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