VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

VRSN has been the subject of several other research reports. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $205.10 on Monday. VeriSign has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $208.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $188.72 and a 200 day moving average of $183.89. The firm has a market cap of $19.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.85 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $233,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3.9% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 5.6% during the second quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.8% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.