VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Upgraded at Zacks Research

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Trading Up 2.3%

VRSN opened at $281.15 on Monday. VeriSign has a 12 month low of $208.86 and a 12 month high of $312.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $275.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $259.86. The company has a market cap of $25.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.49 and a beta of 0.71.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that VeriSign will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,551 shares in the company, valued at $9,954,280. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.44, for a total value of $892,452.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 416,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,567,675.16. This represents a 0.79% 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. Insiders have sold 25,100 shares of company stock worth $6,803,294 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tema ETFs LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 76.3% during the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 1,804 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in VeriSign by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,775 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. LifeGoal Investments LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Czech National Bank raised its stake in VeriSign by 3.7% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 23,312 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,864,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab raised its stake in VeriSign by 7.1% during the second quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 33,065 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,318,000 after buying an additional 2,181 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.