Korea Investment CORP Acquires 17,862 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Korea Investment CORP raised its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 27.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 82,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,862 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.09% of VeriSign worth $23,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 97 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the first quarter valued at about $34,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of VeriSign in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $270.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 price target on VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.67.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $252.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.38 and a beta of 0.76. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $185.44 and a twelve month high of $310.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $258.19 and a 200 day moving average of $271.80.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.66% and a net margin of 49.86%.The business had revenue of $419.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.71 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 18th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 18th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.90%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.57, for a total transaction of $1,327,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 471,439 shares in the company, valued at $125,200,055.23. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.87, for a total transaction of $592,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 28,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,769,033.99. This trade represents a 8.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 47,839 shares of company stock worth $12,660,539 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.