Oxbow Advisors LLC Has $4.26 Million Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Oxbow Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 56.5% during the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 97 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,506 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 2,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 172 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $259.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.27 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00 and a beta of 0.79. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.62 and a 12-month high of $310.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.97.

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, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. The business’s 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 buyback program 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 reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.15, for a total transaction of $1,320,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 508,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,392,123.80. This represents a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 38,706 shares of company stock worth $10,591,676 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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