Timothy Tomlinson Sells 700 Shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 700 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total value of $189,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,126,680. This represents a 4.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.0%

VeriSign stock opened at $269.55 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.62 and a 12-month high of $310.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $279.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $263.50. The stock has a market cap of $25.18 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17 and a beta of 0.78.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.01. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The firm had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 35.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. Cache Advisors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $685,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after acquiring an additional 455,844 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 358.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 70,017 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,775,000 after acquiring an additional 54,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $329,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, 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.