Foster & Motley Inc. Purchases 8,428 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 205.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,428 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 75.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,329,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $586,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,510 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 477.1% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 791,271 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $200,880,000 after purchasing an additional 654,170 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 161.4% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 860,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $248,388,000 after purchasing an additional 531,041 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in VeriSign by 71.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,202,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $307,098,000 after purchasing an additional 500,223 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in VeriSign in the 1st quarter worth approximately $86,014,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $264.79 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $274.72 and its 200 day moving average is $274.17. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.62 and a fifty-two week high of $310.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.73 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 0.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information services provider to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.06, for a total transaction of $528,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 469,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $123,960,062.34. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 34,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,988,971.88. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,706 shares of company stock worth $10,591,676 in the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $277.50.

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.