IFP Advisors Inc Boosts Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 157.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 638 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 1.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 119,555 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,002,510 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 71.3% in the first 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 during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings 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 during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed 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 issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.50.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $265.74 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.82 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $275.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.93. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.62 and a twelve month high of $310.60.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly 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 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The business had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information services provider to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.92, for a total value of $131,722.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 34,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,988,971.88. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,706 shares of company stock valued at $8,735,706. 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.