VeriSign (VRSN) Stock on November 29, 2025: Volume Spike, JPMorgan Selling and Buffett Overhang

Updated: November 29, 2025

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) is back in the spotlight today after a burst of trading activity and fresh disclosures about institutional and insider selling. On November 29, 2025, multiple outlets flagged unusually heavy volume in VeriSign shares and a new filing showing JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimming its position in the domain-name giant. ^[1]

All of this comes just months after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold roughly one-third of its VeriSign stake in a $1.23 billion secondary offering, cutting its ownership from 14.2% to 9.6% and triggering a sharp pullback in the stock this summer. ^[2]

Here’s a detailed, investor-focused rundown of today’s VeriSign stock news, how it fits into the bigger picture, and what to watch heading into 2026.

VeriSign Stock Today: Price, Volume and Valuation Snapshot

As of the close on Friday, November 28, 2025, VeriSign stock traded at $251.99, down about 0.27% on the day. ^[3]

Key trading and valuation metrics:

Last close: $251.99
Previous close: $252.67
Day’s range: roughly $251.53–$254.56
52‑week range: about $185.44–$310.60
Volume: ~1.85 million shares, roughly double the 3‑month average of about 905,000 shares
Market cap: around $23.3–$23.4 billion
Trailing P/E ratio: about 29.5–29.6x earnings
Annual dividend: about $3.08 per share (≈1.2% yield) ^[4]

That combination of a premium earnings multiple, modest dividend yield, and a stock trading roughly 20% below its 52‑week high sets the stage for today’s news: Is the recent selling pressure a warning sign, or an opportunity in a still‑dominant infrastructure franchise?

1. MarketBeat Flags Unusual Volume in VRSN

A fresh MarketBeat instant alert published today highlights a sharp pickup in trading activity in VeriSign stock. According to the report, trading volume jumped by more than 50% versus the prior session, with around 1.37 million shares changing hands as the stock hovered around the $253 level. ^[5]

The same piece notes that:

VRSN is trading below its 50‑day moving average (around $258–$259)
It is also below its 200‑day moving average (around $272)
The company’s market cap is in the mid‑$23 billion range, with a beta around 0.76, underscoring relatively low volatility compared with the broader market ^[6]

From a fundamentals perspective, MarketBeat’s recap reminds readers that VeriSign:

Generated Q3 2025 revenue of about $419.1 million, up 7.3% year over year
Delivered diluted EPS of roughly $2.27, up from about $2.07 a year ago
Operated with very high net margins near 50% ^[7]

There’s a small disagreement between data providers on whether Q3 results were a “beat” or a tiny “miss” versus consensus estimates (some list EPS estimates at $2.25, others at $2.29), but the takeaway is clear: earnings were essentially in line, with solid top‑line growth and elite margins. ^[8]

MarketBeat also pegs Wall Street’s view as a “Moderate Buy”, with an average price target of about $281.67, based on a mix of Buy and Hold ratings. ^[9]

2. JPMorgan Cuts Its VeriSign Stake – But Still Holds a Big Position

The second major headline today: a JPMorgan Chase & Co. 13F filing showing the bank has trimmed its VRSN position by 4.4%. ^[10]

According to the MarketBeat summary of the filing:

JPMorgan sold 17,990 shares of VeriSign during Q2
It now holds around 393,415 VRSN shares
That stake is valued at about $113.6 million and represents roughly 0.42% of the company ^[11]

The article goes on to highlight that hedge funds and other institutional investors collectively own about 93% of VeriSign’s stock, underscoring how heavily owned the company is by professional money managers. ^[12]

JPMorgan’s reduction on its own doesn’t change the investment case—large asset managers regularly rebalance positions—but when layered on top of Berkshire’s summer sale and persistent insider selling, it contributes to a narrative of incremental supply hitting the market.

3. Insider Selling: A Growing Narrative Around Management Confidence

Institutional flows aren’t the only selling pressure. A series of articles throughout 2025, capped by a November 15, 2025 analysis from Simply Wall St, have highlighted a pattern of insider selling at VeriSign, especially by long‑time CEO and Executive Chairman D. James Bidzos. ^[13]

Recent insider activity includes:

November 13, 2025: Bidzos sold 9,000 shares, according to an SEC filing. ^[14]
Over the past 12 months, the CEO has sold roughly 108,000 shares and made no reported open‑market purchases, according to Simply Wall St’s tally. ^[15]
September 17–18, 2025: GuruFocus reports that Bidzos sold 7,000 shares on September 17 and another 2,000 shares on September 18. ^[16]
November 28, 2025: A Form 144 filed by board member Timothy Tomlinson indicates plans to sell 1,590 shares through Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. ^[17]

MarketBeat’s institutional‑flow piece also notes that, over the most recent quarter, company insiders collectively sold 47,839 shares worth about $12.7 million, and that insiders now hold roughly 0.84% of outstanding stock. ^[18]

Simply Wall St’s November 15 article frames this as a potential sentiment overhang, asking whether the CEO’s continued selling indicates any shift in long‑term conviction. At the same time, the piece stresses that VeriSign’s fundamental story still hinges on domain‑base growth, high margins and renewal rates, and that insider activity doesn’t necessarily change near‑term business drivers. ^[19]

For context, many executives sell stock under pre‑scheduled 10b5‑1 trading plans or for diversification and liquidity, so insider selling alone isn’t automatically bearish. But repeated CEO sales plus a fresh director Form 144, all in the same year that Berkshire trims its stake, understandably keeps investors’ antennas up.

4. Q3 2025 Earnings: High Margins, Steady Domain Growth

Underneath the flow headlines, VeriSign’s Q3 2025 fundamentals have been solid:

Revenue: About $419.1 million, up 7.3% year‑over‑year ^[20]
Net income: Roughly $213 million, up from the prior year ^[21]
Diluted EPS: Around $2.27, versus roughly $2.07 in Q3 2024 ^[22]
Domain base: About 171.9 million .com and .net names, an increase of roughly 1.4% year‑over‑year
New registrations: Approximately 10.6 million names in the quarter
Preliminary renewal rate: About 75.3%, up from 72.2% a year earlier
2025 domain‑base growth guidance: Raised to roughly 2.2–2.5% ^[23]

These numbers reinforce the long‑standing VeriSign story: slow‑but‑steady top‑line growth, very high profitability and strong cash generation, all driven by its role as the authoritative registry operator for .com and .net and other top‑level domains. ^[24]

The company continues to emphasize shareholder returns via dividends and buybacks:

A quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share was declared earlier this year, with the most recent payout scheduled for November 25, 2025. ^[25]
Annualized, that’s about $3.08 per share, matching the ≈1.2% yield shown on price‑data platforms. ^[26]

Given net margins near 50% and relatively low capital‑expenditure needs, VeriSign has ample room to fund dividends and aggressive share repurchases, which is one reason long‑term investors like Buffett have historically favored the name. ^[27]

5. The Berkshire Hathaway Overhang: One‑Third of the Stake Sold

The biggest structural change to the shareholder base in 2025 came in late July, when Berkshire Hathaway affiliates launched a secondary offering of 4.3 million VeriSign shares at $285 each—roughly a 7% discount to the then‑prevailing market price near $306. ^[28]

Key points from Reuters and TipRanks coverage of the deal:

Berkshire cut its stake from 14.2% to about 9.6%, selling roughly one‑third of its holdings.
The offering raised about $1.23 billion for Berkshire; VeriSign itself did not issue new shares or receive proceeds.
The sale was explicitly structured to keep Berkshire’s ownership below 10%, a threshold that would trigger extra regulatory reporting requirements.
An additional 515,032 shares may still be sold to meet demand, although the remaining stake is subject to a 365‑day lockup. ^[29]

The announcement initially knocked VeriSign stock down 6–7%, and the Berkshire move has since become a dominant part of the narrative: if even Buffett is selling, should smaller investors be nervous?

Both Reuters and equity research commentary stress that Berkshire’s reduction appears driven by regulatory and portfolio‑management reasons, not a fundamental blow‑up in the business. Analysts, including at Baird, have kept an “outperform”‑style thesis focused on domain growth and robust cash flows, even after the sale. ^[30]

6. Valuation Check: What Are Analysts and Models Saying About VRSN?

The tug‑of‑war around VeriSign is very much about valuation, not about whether the business survives.

Street price targets

Different data providers show slightly different aggregates, but the broad message is:

MarketBeat: “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target around $281.67. ^[31]
Investing.com: Consensus fair‑value / target in the $295.50 area, implying roughly 17% upside from recent prices. ^[32]
TipRanks: A small sample of analyst ratings points to an average target near $335, also labeled “Moderate Buy.” ^[33]
QuiverQuant / JPMorgan: On October 28, 2025, JP Morgan analyst Alexei Gogolev initiated coverage with a $270 price target. ^[34]

So depending on whom you ask, Wall Street sees 7–30% upside from today’s ~$252 level.

Simply Wall St fair‑value narrative

Simply Wall St published two detailed VeriSign pieces this month:

“Assessing Valuation After Recent Share Price Gains” (November 24, 2025)
- Notes a 22.6% year‑to‑date gain and about 39.4% total shareholder return over the past 12 months.
- Estimates a DCF‑based fair value of about $295.50, implying the stock was roughly 15% undervalued versus a recent close around $251.42. ^[35]
“Does Ongoing Insider Selling Signal Shifts in Management’s Long‑Term Conviction?” (November 15, 2025)
- Projects VeriSign could reach $1.9 billion in revenue and $1.0 billion in earnings by 2028, implying mid‑single‑digit annual revenue growth and expanding profits.
- Uses those forecasts to support the same ~$295.50 fair value estimate, about 17% above mid‑November prices. ^[36]

Together, those frameworks paint a picture of a high‑quality, high‑margin franchise that is not obviously cheap, but not wildly overpriced either—especially if management can keep growing the domain base and nudging prices higher under its agreements with ICANN. ^[37]

7. How Has VeriSign Actually Treated Shareholders?

A separate MarketWatch / Morningstar feature updated today examines 10 tech companies that have “treated their shareholders like gold.” VeriSign makes the list, but the data table attached to the article shows negative trailing total returns for the stock across several timeframes (numbers like ‑28.9%, ‑18.5% and ‑3.8% are listed next to VRSN), suggesting that even with buybacks and dividends, recent price performance has lagged some peers. ^[38]

Meanwhile, an AOL/Yahoo Finance piece on Berkshire’s remaining core holdings, also timestamped November 29, 2025, highlights VeriSign as an example of steady growth paired with a more reasonable P/E multiple versus some high‑flyer tech names. ^[39]

Layer in the long‑term numbers—2024 revenue of $1.56 billion (up 4.3% vs 2023) and operating income of $1.06 billion—and you get a company that has quietly compounded earnings even when the share price goes through periods of underperformance. ^[40]

8. Business Moat and Key Risks: Domains, DNS, and Regulation

Beyond the stock action, it’s worth remembering what VeriSign actually does:

Operates the authoritative registries for .com, .net, .name and .cc, along with certain other top‑level domains. ^[41]
Maintains critical DNS infrastructure, including acting as Root Zone Maintainer for ICANN and operating two of the internet’s 13 root servers. ^[42]

This is boring but mission‑critical plumbing for the internet, and it’s hard to replicate. That’s the moat that has historically justified VeriSign’s high margins and premium multiple.

However, a few risks are front‑and‑center for investors:

Regulatory / contract risk with ICANN
- VeriSign’s ability to increase prices on .com and .net registrations is governed by long‑term contracts and oversight; changes here could impact long‑term earnings power. ^[43]
Competition and new TLDs
- Growth in alternative domain extensions and changes in how users find content (apps, social platforms, AI search) could slow demand for new .com and .net registrations over time.
.web litigation
- In VeriSign’s recent Q3 earnings call transcript, management reiterated that litigation over the .web top‑level domain remains pending, with a final hearing still scheduled for mid‑November 2025 and no substantive updates yet. ^[44]
Macro sensitivity
- While domain renewals are relatively sticky, slowdowns in new business formation or online spending can show up as softer new registration trends—one of the key metrics the Street is tracking.

9. What Today’s News Means for VRSN Investors

Pulling everything together, here’s how the November 29, 2025 news flow shapes the short‑ and long‑term view:

Near term (days to weeks)

Heavier volume plus a notable JPMorgan trim adds to the sense that there’s extra supply in the market, at a time when the stock is already below its medium‑ and long‑term moving averages. ^[45]
The ongoing insider‑selling narrative—CEO sales, director Form 144, and earlier executive transactions—may keep some investors cautious, even if much of the selling is likely pre‑planned. ^[46]
Berkshire’s overhang is partially behind the stock, but the possibility of an additional 515,032‑share sale remains in the background. ^[47]

Overall, the technical and flow picture looks a bit shaky: stock below key moving averages, big holders selling, insiders reducing stakes.

Medium to long term (months to years)

On the other hand:

Fundamentals remain strong: growing revenue, rising earnings, high margins, and a domain base that continues to inch higher with improving renewal rates. ^[48]
VeriSign’s role in critical internet infrastructure is unchanged and arguably more important as global online activity and DNS security demands grow. ^[49]
Multiple valuation frameworks—from traditional analyst targets to DCF‑style fair‑value models—suggest moderate upside from current levels, not a euphoric bubble. ^[50]

In short, today’s headlines speak more to who is selling and at what volume than to a deterioration in the business itself.

10. Key Things for VRSN Watchlists Going Into 2026

If you’re tracking VeriSign for a portfolio or watchlist, here are a few practical checkpoints to watch after today:

Next earnings (expected February 2026): Are domain registrations and renewal rates still trending up in that 2–3% growth band? ^[51]
Any updates on .web or ICANN contracts: A favorable outcome could add a new growth lever; an adverse one could trim longer‑term expectations. ^[52]
Further institutional and insider filings: Another wave of big sales from Berkshire, JPMorgan, or the C‑suite could deepen sentiment concerns; conversely, a slowdown in insider selling would help. ^[53]
Valuation vs. quality: With a P/E around 30x and a market cap near $23–24 billion, VRSN remains priced as a high‑quality, durable cash‑flow generator, not a deep value play. ^[54]

Final Word (Not Investment Advice!)

As of November 29, 2025, VeriSign stock sits at an interesting crossroads:

Flows and sentiment are being pressured by big‑name sellers (Berkshire, JPMorgan, insiders).
Fundamentals and moats remain intact, with high margins, growing cash flows and a critical role in running core pieces of the internet.
Valuation suggests some upside but not a screaming bargain, assuming management hits its mid‑single‑digit growth ambitions.

Whether that mix adds up to “buy the dip” or “wait for clarity” depends on your risk tolerance, time horizon, and how much weight you put on insider and institutional activity.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Always do your own research or consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.

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