PDS Planning Inc Purchases New Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

PDS Planning Inc purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 747 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 1st quarter valued at $641,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in VeriSign by 118.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 220,285 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $55,924,000 after buying an additional 119,368 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the first quarter valued at about $508,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 1st quarter worth approximately $351,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 35.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $264.06 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.62 and a 52-week high of $310.60. The company has a market cap of $24.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $275.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.05.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business 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 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information services provider to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.24, for a total value of $1,416,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 489,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,628,702.36. This trade represents a 1.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $189,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,126,680. The trade was a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,205 shares of company stock worth $9,166,683. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, October 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, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.