VeriSign’s (VRSN) “Buy (B-)” Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings restated their buy (b-) rating on shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) in a research note published on Friday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a report on Friday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $287.50.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $247.08 on Friday. VeriSign has a twelve month low of $175.62 and a twelve month high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $22.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $273.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.86% and a negative return on equity of 40.66%. The business had revenue of $419.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. VeriSign’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 18th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 18th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.90%.

VeriSign announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information services provider to repurchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 34,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,988,971.88. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.54, for a total transaction of $523,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 460,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,423,216.06. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,706 shares of company stock valued at $12,451,906 over the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,244 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in VeriSign by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in VeriSign by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 130.9% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in VeriSign by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,638 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

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.