Blue Trust Inc. Boosts Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 18.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 429 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 6.7% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 35.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 358.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 70,017 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,775,000 after acquiring an additional 54,759 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the first quarter worth about $250,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the first quarter worth about $1,003,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRSN. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.92, for a total transaction of $131,722.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 34,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,988,971.88. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.06, for a total value of $528,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 469,439 shares in the company, valued at $123,960,062.34. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,706 shares of company stock worth $10,591,676 over the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $259.79 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.62 and a 1 year high of $310.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $274.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $273.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.27 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00 and a beta of 0.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. 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 Dividend Announcement

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

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

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.