OFI Invest Asset Management Acquires 61 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

OFI Invest Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 405 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,514,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,669,263,000 after acquiring an additional 119,555 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 75.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,329,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $586,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,510 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in VeriSign by 71.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,202,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $307,098,000 after acquiring an additional 500,223 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,157,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $293,835,000 after buying an additional 60,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,024,095 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $259,987,000 after buying an additional 49,478 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.4%

VRSN opened at $260.82 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $275.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $273.96. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.62 and a twelve month high of $310.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12 and a beta of 0.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.05% and a negative return on equity of 40.87%. The firm had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.11 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information services provider to repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued 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 payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.43, for a total transaction of $1,342,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 498,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,759,742.72. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 38,205 shares of company stock worth $10,577,083 over the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.