VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Board Authorizes Stock Repurchase Plan

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.11 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ VRSN traded down $2.69 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $286.67. 825,748 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 589,375. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $254.28. VeriSign has a 1-year low of $172.49 and a 1-year high of $291.54. The firm has a market cap of $26.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05 and a beta of 0.78.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.01. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 41.37% and a net margin of 50.23%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on VRSN. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total value of $143,837.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,843,479.90. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total value of $562,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 515,772 shares in the company, valued at $145,112,452.20. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,004 shares of company stock valued at $11,278,592 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Company 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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