Rep. James Comer Buys VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

Representative James Comer (R-Kentucky) recently bought shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN). In a filing disclosed on January 10th, the Representative disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in VeriSign stock on January 2nd.

Representative James Comer also recently made the following trade(s):

• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Dover (NYSE:DOV) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Home Depot (NYSE:HD) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Amphenol (NYSE:APH) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) on 1/2/2025.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $209.00 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.16. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $213.68. The firm has a market cap of $20.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30 and a beta of 0.89.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.74% and a negative return on equity of 45.59%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.8% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,472,803 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $261,864,000 after buying an additional 11,606 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 44.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 788,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $139,771,000 after acquiring an additional 242,884 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $131,712,000 after acquiring an additional 47,412 shares in the last quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $109,040,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in VeriSign by 26.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,293,000 after acquiring an additional 120,958 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

About Representative Comer

James Comer Jr. (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District. He assumed office on November 14, 2016. His current term ends on January 3, 2025. Comer (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the U.S. House to represent Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022. Prior to serving in Congress, Comer was the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture from 2012 to 2016, and the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2001 to 2012. He also unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Kentucky in 2015. A writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal called Comer “instrumental in the final passage of a five-year farm bill,” noting that he served on the conference committee that produced the final version of the bill. Comer is from Tompkinsville, Ky. He acted as the director of South Central Bank for 12 years and has been the co-owner of the Comer Land and Cattle Company. He previously served as president of CFB Foods Incorporated from 2001 to 2003 and president of Comer and Polston Insurance Incorporated from 1993 to 1995.

VeriSign Company 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.