Berkshire Hathaway Inc Acquires Shares of 8,989,880 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,989,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,261,494,000. VeriSign accounts for about 0.8% of Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Berkshire Hathaway Inc owned approximately 0.10% of VeriSign at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 25.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its position in VeriSign by 788.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $292.99 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $273.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.69. The stock has a market cap of $26.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.78 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total transaction of $146,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 34,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 398,089 shares in the company, valued at $115,907,593.24. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,020,624 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on VRSN. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.