VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock Price Target Raised at Wedbush

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its target price increased by analysts at Wedbush from $341.00 to $351.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.56% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Zacks Research cut VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $335.50.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $303.74 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.82 and a beta of 0.69. VeriSign has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The company’s fifty day moving average is $291.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $282.01.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $146,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,349,700.30. This represents a 1.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.85, for a total value of $999,405.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 375,127 shares in the company, valued at $113,607,211.95. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 43,100 shares of company stock worth $12,456,053. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,044,157,000 after acquiring an additional 73,583 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after acquiring an additional 38,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 48.5% in the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $227,252,000 after acquiring an additional 298,895 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.