Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Acquires 13,000 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,000 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $18,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,514,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,669,263,000 after buying an additional 119,555 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $586,417,000 after buying an additional 1,002,510 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake 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 valued at $307,098,000 after buying an additional 500,223 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $293,835,000 after buying an additional 60,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake 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 valued at $259,987,000 after buying an additional 49,478 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

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 value of $1,320,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 508,772 shares in the company, valued at $134,392,123.80. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 45,706 shares of company stock valued at $12,451,906 in the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRSN. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 target price on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $270.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued 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, three have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $281.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $240.37 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $175.62 and a one year high of $310.60. The company has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.02 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $272.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $419.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 18th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 18th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.90%.

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.