VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $171.08 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign has a one year low of $169.36 and a one year high of $229.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.04% and a negative return on equity of 47.21%. VeriSign’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total transaction of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,552,768.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total value of $122,017.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,930,124.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total transaction of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,752 shares of company stock valued at $2,853,989. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $207,161,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $369,989,000 after acquiring an additional 233,811 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 99.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $89,624,000 after buying an additional 220,106 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 471.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 238,978 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $49,220,000 after buying an additional 197,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in VeriSign by 38.9% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 546,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $103,531,000 after buying an additional 153,035 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.