VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN) – What Are Analysts Saying About This Stock?

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $352.00.

Several analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Wedbush boosted their target price on VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $307.21 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $295.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $271.38. VeriSign has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.69 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The company had revenue of $443.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $440.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that VeriSign will post 9.53 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 34.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 394,927 shares in the company, valued at $114,959,300.43. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 45,856 shares of company stock valued at $13,497,228 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter valued at about $4,093,000. AIA Group Ltd bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,746,000. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5,216.7% in the 3rd quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,130,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.3% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 15,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,368,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.