VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $199.10 on Tuesday. VeriSign has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $220.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $185.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.13 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 0.92.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 EPS.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction 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 approximately $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,776 shares of company stock worth $1,102,524 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Troy Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $109,040,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in VeriSign by 836.8% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 473,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $84,133,000 after acquiring an additional 422,676 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $67,914,000. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the third quarter worth about $46,455,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 44.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 788,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $139,771,000 after purchasing an additional 242,884 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.