USS Investment Management Ltd Grows Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

USS Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 15.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,297 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 13,000.0% in the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 106.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 159 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 32.3% in the first quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 172 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.82, for a total value of $1,424,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 526,772 shares in the company, valued at $150,035,201.04. The trade was a 0.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,205 shares of company stock valued at $11,698,637. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $282.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $26.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76 and a beta of 0.79. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.62 and a fifty-two week high of $310.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $277.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $267.30.

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

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information services provider to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 36.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $277.50.

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.