VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Purchased by Gries Financial LLC

Gries Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,745 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Gries Financial LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,027,000. Forum Financial Management LP raised its position in VeriSign by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,766 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $367,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,526,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.48, for a total transaction of $576,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 476,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $137,443,122.72. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,126,680. This trade represents a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,706 shares of company stock worth $12,733,269 over the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $277.50.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $286.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $277.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $270.75. The stock has a market cap of $26.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21 and a beta of 0.79. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.62 and a 1 year high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $409.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.11 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information services provider to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

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.