BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Boosts Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 570.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,890 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,582,645 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,056,268,000 after buying an additional 68,355 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,932,243 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,135,632,000 after acquiring an additional 73,931 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 32.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,003 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $894,414,000 after acquiring an additional 767,363 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,326,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $670,685,000 after acquiring an additional 44,751 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $300,249,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key VeriSign News

Here are the key news stories impacting VeriSign this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Board raised the quarterly dividend 5.2% to $0.81 per share (annualized yield ~1.5%); dividend payable Feb. 27 with an ex-dividend date of Feb. 19 — supports income-oriented holders. Dividend Increase Article
• Positive Sentiment: Underlying market demand remains intact: DNIB reports 386.9M domain name registrations at end of Q4 2025, up 2.2% quarter‑over‑quarter — a demand tailwind for VeriSign’s .com/.net registry business. DNIB Domain Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Revenue showed modest strength: Q4 revenue of $425.3M beat consensus by ~$1.3M and rose 7.6% year‑over‑year — a sign of stable top‑line momentum. Q4 Slide Deck / Press Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Company updated FY‑2026 revenue guidance roughly in line with Street expectations (~$1.7B), which keeps growth expectations steady but offers limited upside surprise. Guidance / Slide Deck
• Negative Sentiment: EPS missed: Q4 GAAP EPS was $2.23 vs. consensus $2.29 (miss of $0.06). Despite healthy margins, management reported a negative return on equity metric that may reflect capital structure/buyback accounting and raised investor concern. Earnings Summary / Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Insider activity: an EVP sold 498 shares (~$249 avg) disclosed Feb. 3 — small in size but sometimes interpreted negatively in the short term. Insider Sale Filing

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.28, for a total transaction of $496,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 414,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,812,499.72. This trade represents a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.08, for a total value of $124,041.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,501,044.20. This trade represents a 1.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,496 shares of company stock valued at $9,248,893. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 7.6%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $224.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44 and a beta of 0.75. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $310.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $246.06 and its 200 day moving average is $259.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $425.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.04 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.84% and a negative return on equity of 41.14%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share.

VeriSign Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This is a boost from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 35.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $270.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $325.00 target price on VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $298.00.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.