Insider selling: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP sells 500 shares. September 9, 2026 Key points. * VeriSign EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares at an average price of $289.16, totaling $144,580, under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. He retained 32,895 shares after the sale. * VeriSign shares rose 1.7% to $286.94, with the company valued at approximately $25.91 billion. The stock trades above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. * The company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while analysts maintain an average "Buy" rating with a consensus price target of $333. * Five stocks to consider instead of VeriSign. VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.16, for a total value of $144,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 32,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,511,918.20. This trade represents a 1.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. VeriSign stock up 1.7%. VRSN traded up $4.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $286.94. 743,914 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 814,106. The company's fifty day moving average price is $280.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $270.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.12 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48. VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm's revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. VeriSign announces dividend. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%. Hedge funds weigh in on VeriSign. Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,973,000 after purchasing an additional 5,267 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 208.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,324,000 after acquiring an additional 9,046 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth $2,116,154,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in VeriSign by 40.4% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 454,292 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $110,370,000 after acquiring an additional 130,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter valued at $944,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock. Analyst Ratings changes. A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $333.00. 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. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. Before you consider VeriSign, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and VeriSign wasn't on the list. While VeriSign currently has a Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. A strong long-term portfolio starts with companies that can survive recessions, inflation, changing consumer habits, and shifting market leadership. This report names seven blue-chip stocks across technology, retail, consumer staples, healthcare, networking, sporting goods, and utilities that offer investors a mix of stability, income, growth, and staying power. Continue following MarketBeat

Hagens Berman Files Antitrust Class-Action Lawsuit Against Verisign and ICANN Alleging Billions of Dollars in Illicit Gains from Website Domain Owners TMCnet News [September 04, 2026] | / | Hagens Berman Files Antitrust Class-Action Lawsuit Against Verisign and ICANN Alleging Billions of Dollars in Illicit Gains from Website Domain Owners Antitrust law firm Hagens Berman has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners of .com website domains, accusing Verisign Inc. and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) of maintaining an illegal monopoly, charging excessive fees amounting to billions of dollars in allegedly illicit gains. A California consumer filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Sept. 4, 2026, and states that, since 2021, Verisign's price has risen roughly 30% to $10.26 per domain, despite declining actual costs of providing registry services across the industry. The lawsuit alleges that Verisign's prices are the result of a contract between it and ICANN that entitles Verisign to a permanent monopoly over the .com registry, and that ICANN, the organization originally intended to promote competition for .com, now shares in Verisign's monopoly profits. "Web domain owners and operators are often small businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits or sole proprietors, seeking to make a name and a living through their goods and services," said Steve W. Berman, managing partner and co-founder of Hagens Berman. "Every year, Verisign extracts nearly a billion dollars in overcharges from these ordinary people and businesses. We believe Verisign has maintained an illegal monopoly in the .com domain space - where there are over 160 million active registrations worldwide - answering only to its shareholders." Every .com registrant pays Verisign's fee, regardless of registrar. It is embedded in every transaction, at every registrar, without exception. If you registered a .com domain name for personal or business use since 2022, find out your rights. Network Net Profits Verisign's financial filings indicate it costs Verisign approximately $3 per domain to operate .com domains, and comparable registries around the world charge an average of between $5 and $6. Verisign charges more than doble that, generating operating margins exceeding 67% - higher than Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and more than five times the S&P 500 index average, according to the lawsuit. In 2025 alone, Verisign returned more than $1 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends, which attorneys allege is not funded by innovation, but by fees extracted from a captive customer base. "These results would be impossible in a competitive market," the lawsuit states. According to the lawsuit, Verisign obtained its permanent monopoly through a years-long campaign of coercion against ICANN - the private nonprofit that oversees the domain name system. Verisign now has a 100% share of the .com registry market and a contractual right to keep it - indefinitely - through a "presumptive right of renewal" that forecloses competitive bidding, the lawsuit states. Every .com domain registration or renewal passes through a two-tier system. Verisign operates the registry, or the wholesale layer, and thousands of registrars (companies like GoDaddy, Namecheap and Cloudflare) compete at the retail level to sell domains to consumers. But every registrar must pay Verisign the same non-negotiable wholesale fee for every .com domain registered, according to attorneys. That fee is embedded in the price consumers pay, regardless of which registrar is used. "Rarely does a monopoly exist in such black and white terms as we believe exists here," Berman said. "Verisign didn't build .com. It bought it, made sure no one could compete for it, and has since raised prices at every opportunity." The lawsuit includes comments from registrars about Verisign's monopoly: GoDaddy, the world's largest registrar, has written that "from an end user's perspective, Verisign's .COM does not have natural competitors to constrain retail pricing within the market" and that "[t]here is no effective competition to assist in establishing what is a reasonable price for .COM." The lawsuit also cites bipartisan calls for action from both government agencies and members of Congress. In 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration wrote in a statement that, "a reduction in .com prices would be in the best interest of the public." The same year, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jerrold Nadler wrote a letter stating, "Verisign and ICANN may have a collusive relationship" in which Verisign has "used its monopoly power... to capture ICANN and its millions of consumers" and urged the Department of Justice to "investigate Verisign for violations of antitrust laws, and, if necessary, hold the Company accountable." "Verisign is ripping off the owners of 150 million .com websites by charging over $10 annually for each .com registration, making over $1 billion with its predatory pricing scheme that the Company then uses to pad its shareholders' pockets," they added. The lawsuit seeks to end the alleged anticompetitive behavior through a court injunction and seeks to recoup losses suffered by domain holders harmed by Verisign's alleged anticompetitive practices. The class action brings claims of violation of the Sherman Act, as well as for monopolization, restraint of trade, and unfair competition under state consumer-protection laws. Find out more about the class-action lawsuit against Verisign on behalf of .com domain owners and operators. About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs' rights complex litigation law firm with a tenacious drive for achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. Since its founding in 1993, the firm's determination has earned it numerous national accolades, awards and titles of "Most Feared Plaintiff's Firm," MVPs and Trailblazers of class-action law. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260902091535/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage] |