StockNews.com Upgrades VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $168.34 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 0.89. VeriSign has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $229.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $187.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.98.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.04% and a negative return on equity of 47.21%. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,427,122.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other VeriSign news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,552,768.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $119,737.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,427,122.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,752 shares of company stock valued at $2,853,989. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 91.7% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 347 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.1% in the third quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,439 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $899,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 63.5% in the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 5,765 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.8% in the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 39,529 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,006,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 12,136 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,458,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.