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

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its target price hoisted by Citigroup from $210.00 to $238.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note 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 cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $205.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $19.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.91 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $190.44 and a 200-day moving average of $184.57. VeriSign has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $210.22.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Concord Wealth Partners grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Tobam increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 138.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth $76,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Company Profile

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.