Arkadios Wealth Advisors Acquires New Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Arkadios Wealth Advisors bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 749 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 1st quarter worth about $641,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in VeriSign by 118.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 220,285 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $55,924,000 after purchasing an additional 119,368 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $508,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the first quarter valued at approximately $351,000. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,664,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 price objective on VeriSign in a report on Friday, October 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $270.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.67.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.15, for a total transaction of $1,320,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 508,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,392,123.80. This trade represents a 0.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.87, for a total value of $592,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 28,577 shares in the company, valued at $6,769,033.99. The trade was a 8.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,039 shares of company stock worth $12,990,731. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $239.60 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $268.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $274.38. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.62 and a 52-week high of $310.60. The firm has a market cap of $22.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93 and a beta of 0.76.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 18th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.90%.

VeriSign declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.