VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Earns Outperform Rating from Wedbush

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $318.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.55% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on VRSN. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.25.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.6%

VRSN stock opened at $270.52 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89 and a beta of 0.71. VeriSign has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $279.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $258.01.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. Research analysts predict that VeriSign will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at $10,363,670.54. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 26,300 shares of company stock valued at $7,125,942 over the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,285,000 after buying an additional 321,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,700,000 after acquiring an additional 496,674 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,491,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $362,247,000 after purchasing an additional 246,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $312,900,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Company Profile

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.