VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Trading Down 7.5% After Insider Selling

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)’s share price dropped 7.5% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $235.15 and last traded at $231.86. Approximately 310,973 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 843,269 shares. The stock had previously closed at $250.58.

Specifically, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.54, for a total transaction of $523,080.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 460,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,423,216.06. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.43, for a total value of $1,337,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 462,439 shares in the company, valued at $123,670,061.77. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

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 report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 target price on VeriSign in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $287.50.

VeriSign Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.80 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $273.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.47.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $419.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.71 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 41.04% and a net margin of 49.86%.The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 18th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information services provider to repurchase 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 shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $300,249,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 75.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,329,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $586,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,510 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in VeriSign by 477.1% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 791,271 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $200,880,000 after acquiring an additional 654,170 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in VeriSign by 161.4% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 860,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $248,388,000 after acquiring an additional 531,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in VeriSign by 71.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,202,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $307,098,000 after acquiring an additional 500,223 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.