Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Key Points

• Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. by 35.9% in Q2, owning 23,290 shares valued at approximately $6.73 million.
• Insiders at VeriSign sold a combined total of 33,205 shares valued at around $9.17 million over the past 90 days, indicating notable insider activity.
• VeriSign recently declared a $1.11 billion share buyback plan, suggesting that the company's leadership may believe its stock is currently undervalued.

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 35.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,290 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,158 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $6,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 700 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total value of $189,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,126,680. The trade was a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.24, for a total value of $1,416,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 489,439 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $138,628,702.36. The trade was a 1.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,205 shares of company stock valued at $9,166,683 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.50.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $264.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.51 and a beta of 0.79. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $175.62 and a 1-year high of $310.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $275.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $274.05.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.35 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.05% and a negative return on equity of 40.87%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.01 EPS. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.