OMAHA, NE— Berkshire Hathaway Inc . (NYSE:BRKa), led by Warren E. Buffett, has increased its stake in Verisign Inc . (NASDAQ:VRSN) with a series of purchases totaling $4.1 million. The transactions, disclosed in a recent SEC filing, took place over several days, with shares acquired at prices ranging from $204.61 to $204.94 each. The internet infrastructure company, currently valued at $19.7 billion, trades near its 52-week high of $210.22 and appears slightly undervalued according to InvestingPro analysis.
The purchases included 1,621 shares on December 31, 2024, at an average price of $204.83, followed by 5,879 shares on January 2, 2025, at $204.84 per share. On January 3, 2025, Berkshire acquired an additional 11,744 shares at $204.61 and 800 shares at $204.94. Verisign maintains impressive gross profit margins of 87.6% and carries a moderate P/E ratio of 23.9x.
Following these transactions, Berkshire Hathaway now holds a total of 13,289,880 shares of Verisign, reflecting its continued confidence in the company. Warren Buffett, as a controlling stockholder of Berkshire, may be deemed to beneficially own these shares. However, he disclaims beneficial ownership except to the extent of his pecuniary interest. InvestingPro data reveals the company maintains a "GOOD" financial health score, with 12 additional key insights available to subscribers through the comprehensive Pro Research Report.
In other recent news, Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, has increased its investments in Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI), and VeriSign. Berkshire Hathaway's purchase of approximately 8.9 million shares of Occidental Petroleum for around $409 million, about five million shares of Sirius XM for roughly $107 million, and about 234,000 shares of VeriSign for approximately $45.4 million has stirred positive sentiment among investors.
In a separate development, VeriSign's stock was upgraded from Neutral to Outperform by Baird, citing improved clarity on pricing and a positive free cash flow outlook. Citi also reaffirmed its Buy rating for VeriSign, setting a price target of $210.00. Both firms' positive outlooks follow VeriSign's recent renewal of its Cooperative Agreement with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
VeriSign has also announced the renewal of its .com Registry Agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which introduces provisions to enhance the security and stability of the .com Top-Level Domain. The agreement maintains the current pricing structure for .com domain names.
Lastly, VeriSign reported a modest revenue growth of 3.8% in its third-quarter 2024 results, reaching $391 million. This was accompanied by a 13.1% increase in earnings per share, which rose to $2.07. For the full year of 2024, the company expects revenue to be between $1.554 billion and $1.559 billion, with operating income projected between $1.054 billion and $1.059 billion.
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