Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its price target lifted by research analysts at Citigroup from $246.00 to $250.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.38% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on VRSN. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock traded up $2.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $218.58. The company had a trading volume of 148,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 693,136. VeriSign has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $219.57. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $202.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.61. The stock has a market cap of $21.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44 and a beta of 0.90.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in VeriSign by 544.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,455,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 322.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,665,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.