VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $324.63 and last traded at $322.32, with a volume of 43,378 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $318.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $298.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $272.97. The company has a market capitalization of $27.69 billion, a PE ratio of 32.95 and a beta of 0.66.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The company had revenue of $443.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 394,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,959,300.43. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,856 shares of company stock valued at $13,556,803. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at $30,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $40,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 40.5% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 1st quarter worth $64,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.