VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Hits New 52-Week Low Following Weak Earnings

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as low as $208.86 and last traded at $213.06, with a volume of 669377 shares. The stock had previously closed at $242.62.

The information services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.86% and a negative return on equity of 40.66%. The business had revenue of $425.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis.

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 issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is a positive change from VeriSign’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.90%.

Key VeriSign News

Here are the key news stories impacting VeriSign this week:

• Positive Sentiment: VeriSign raised its quarterly dividend 5.2% to $0.81 (annualized yield ~1.4%), signaling continued shareholder returns and capital?allocation priority. VeriSign raises dividend by 5.2% to $0.81
• Positive Sentiment: Domain industry data showed continued expansion: 386.9M domain registrations at end of Q4 (up 2.2% QoQ), supporting VeriSign’s registry revenue durability. DNIB.com Reports 386.9 Million Domain Registrations
• Positive Sentiment: Revenue beat: Q4 revenue was $425.3M, modestly above consensus and +7.6% YoY — shows top?line trend despite mixed comps. VeriSign Q4 revenue and results
• Neutral Sentiment: Management updated FY?2026 guidance (reiterated revenue near ~$1.7B), which appears roughly in line with Street expectations but offered limited clarity on EPS range in initial releases — watch full guidance details in the slides/transcript. VeriSign FY?2026 slides/press release
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings-call transcript and highlights are available for detail on trends (R&D, contract renewals, unit pricing) that will drive forward expectations. Earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: EPS missed: Q4 EPS of $2.23 missed consensus by $0.06, a near?term catalyst for selling pressure as investors calibrate earnings quality vs. valuation. Q4 earnings highlights
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: an EVP sold ~498 shares (~$124k), a small disclosure but noted by market scanners; not large enough alone to drive fundamentals. EVP insider sale

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.59, for a total transaction of $1,222,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 434,099 shares in the company, valued at $106,176,274.41. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,496 shares of company stock worth $9,248,893. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,199,318,000 after purchasing an additional 861,065 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in VeriSign by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after purchasing an additional 321,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $985,063,000 after buying an additional 426,492 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,326,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $670,685,000 after buying an additional 44,751 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,049,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $293,335,000 after acquiring an additional 44,743 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $246.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $260.12. The company has a market capitalization of $19.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03 and a beta of 0.75.

VeriSign Company Profile

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.