Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 2,640 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $670,000. VeriSign accounts for 0.5% of Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 53.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 228,335 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,968,000 after purchasing an additional 79,926 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign by 13.3% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,765 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.9% in the first quarter. Credit Agricole S A now owns 19,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 56.5% in the 1st quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 40,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,354,000 after purchasing an additional 14,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 115.2% in the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 64,448 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,361,000 after acquiring an additional 34,505 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.45, for a total transaction of $532,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 506,772 shares in the company, valued at $135,029,399.40. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.50, for a total transaction of $132,514.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,724,871.50. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,006 shares of company stock valued at $11,153,394. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $277.50.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $271.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $25.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.39 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.62 and a twelve month high of $310.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $279.89 and a 200-day moving average of $262.46.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the business posted $2.01 EPS. VeriSign’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.75%.

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.