VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Price Target Raised to $238.00

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its price objective increased by Citigroup from $210.00 to $238.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $205.62 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $190.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.61. VeriSign has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $210.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.76 billion, a PE ratio of 23.91 and a beta of 0.89.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The business had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter valued at $38,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 93.2% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Tobam lifted its stake in VeriSign by 61.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 311 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 138.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in 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.