VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $255.00 to $275.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. VeriSign traded as high as $256.90 and last traded at $257.39, with a volume of 59994 shares. The stock had previously closed at $253.87.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on VRSN. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 573 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.4 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $232.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.74. The company has a market cap of $24.12 billion, a PE ratio of 31.87 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

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.