Wedbush Increases VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Price Target to $341.00

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at Wedbush from $324.00 to $341.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price target indicates a potential upside of 18.29% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on VRSN. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $288.28 on Tuesday. VeriSign has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $275.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.17. The firm has a market cap of $26.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 422,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. This represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,892,248. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 12.3% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 104.5% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in VeriSign by 122.1% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 2.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.