Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Has $6.26 Million Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd cut its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 24.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,915 shares during the period. VeriSign accounts for about 1.0% of Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $6,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,514,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,669,263,000 after acquiring an additional 119,555 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 75.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,329,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $586,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,510 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 71.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,202,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $307,098,000 after buying an additional 500,223 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,157,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $293,835,000 after buying an additional 60,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,024,095 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $259,987,000 after buying an additional 49,478 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $279.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36 and a beta of 0.79. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.62 and a 52-week high of $310.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $277.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $272.38.

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 net margin of 50.05% and a negative return on equity of 40.87%. The company had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.75%.

VeriSign announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.11 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information services provider to reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.28, for a total value of $141,422.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,191 shares in the company, valued at $9,933,715.48. This trade represents a 1.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 4.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,205 shares of company stock worth $12,587,894 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign 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.