The company of Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., comes with the purchase of shares of an Internet domain name registration company to expand its position as the company’s largest shareholder.
In a presentation of Form 4 Before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday night, Buffett and Berkshire revealed that Berkshire spent $28.55 million to purchase a total of 143,424 shares of VeriSign Inc. during the three sessions that ended on December 24.
In total, during the six sessions through December 24, Berkshire purchased 377,736 VeriSign shares for $73.95 million, implying a weighted average purchase price of $195.78.
This increased Berkshire’s stake in VeriSign to 13,193.349 shares, or 13.7% of shares outstanding. According to Thursday’s closing prices, this stake was valued at US$2.67 billion.
Berkshire’s 13F disclosures about its stock holdings show that it began purchasing VeriSign shares in the first quarter of 2024, with 12,815,613 shares as of March 31. The share remained unchanged until the recent purchases.
VeriSign stock performance
VeriSign shares rose 0.5% in premarket trading Friday, hitting an 11-month high, putting the stock on track for a sixth straight gain, the longest streak since the period ended on August 1st.
VeriSign made a name for itself during the Internet boom of the late ’90s by being the primary place to register website domain names. Their domains end with .com, .net, .cc and .name.
The company went public on January 30, 1998, and closed its first day at $6.38, adjusted by division. It rose 131.7% for the rest of that year, then soared 1,191.8% in 1999, before reaching an all-time high of $253 on February 29, 2000. before the Internet bubble burst. The stock surpassed that high in 2021, with a current record close of $255.93 on December 29 of that year.
Shares closed 20.8% below that record price on Thursday and are down 1.6% so far this year. Of the six analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover VeriSign stock, half are bullish and half are neutral. The average price target for the stock is $230, 13.5% above Thursday’s closing price.
The FactSet consensus for 2024 earnings per share is for growth to $7.99 from $7.90 in 2023, and the 2025 consensus is for growth to $8.55. Sales are expected to increase 4.2% to $1.56 billion in 2024 and then increase 3.2% in 2025 to $1.61 billion.
Source: Ambito
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
