Foster & Motley Inc. Grows Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Foster & Motley Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 205.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,428 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VRSN. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 75.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,002,510 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 477.1% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 791,271 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $200,880,000 after buying an additional 654,170 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 161.4% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 860,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $248,388,000 after buying an additional 531,041 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 71.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,202,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $307,098,000 after buying an additional 500,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 1st quarter worth $86,014,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $264.79 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $175.62 and a 1-year high of $310.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $274.72 and its 200 day moving average is $274.17. The company has a market cap of $24.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 0.79.

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

VeriSign announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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 board believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.75%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.06, for a total value of $528,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 469,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $123,960,062.34. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.92, for a total value of $131,722.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 34,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,988,971.88. This trade represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,706 shares of company stock valued at $10,591,676. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $277.50.

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.