Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd Has $12.32 Million Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd reduced its ownership in VeriSign, Inc. by 21.1%, selling 12,962 shares, which now represents about 2.6% of its total holdings.
• VeriSign has received upgraded price targets from analysts, with Robert W. Baird raising it from $285 to $305, while the consensus price target stands at $277.50.
• The company's CEO and director sold shares recently, with the CEO selling 2,000 shares for $541,420 and the director selling 700 shares for $189,000 in August.

Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd reduced its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 21.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,526 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,962 shares during the quarter. VeriSign makes up 2.6% of Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd owned approximately 0.05% of VeriSign worth $12,319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 13,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the first quarter worth $34,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 106.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign in the first quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 172 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VRSN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.50.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 526,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,035,201.04. The trade was a 0.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,704 shares of company stock valued at $12,946,686. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $273.16. 411,688 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 869,813. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.62 and a twelve month high of $310.60. The firm has a market cap of $25.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.60 and a beta of 0.79. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $278.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $265.69.

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. The firm had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.35 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.01 EPS. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

VeriSign announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.11 billion in 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 usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.