Summit Financial LLC Purchases New Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Summit Financial LLC has acquired a new position in VeriSign, Inc. by purchasing 2,250 shares valued at approximately $571,000 during the 1st quarter of the year.
• Insiders at VeriSign, including EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto and Director Timothy Tomlinson, have sold substantial amounts of stock, indicating a decrease in their ownership percentages.
• VeriSign has authorized a stock buyback plan worth $1.11 billion, reflecting the board's belief that the shares are currently undervalued.

Summit Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,250 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $571,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the first quarter worth $670,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in VeriSign by 53.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 228,335 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $57,968,000 after purchasing an additional 79,926 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,765 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Credit Agricole S A now owns 19,200 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its position in VeriSign by 56.5% in the 1st quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 40,784 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,354,000 after acquiring an additional 14,730 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.50, for a total transaction of $132,514.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,767 shares in the company, valued at $9,724,871.50. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.71, for a total value of $541,420.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 496,304 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,354,455.84. The trade was a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 47,205 shares of company stock worth $13,084,682. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $272.00. The company had a trading volume of 726,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 873,544. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.62 and a 52-week high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $25.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.46 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $278.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $264.21.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.01. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.05% and a negative return on equity of 40.87%. 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 posted $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 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.50.

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.