StockNews.com Downgrades VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $238.35 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $223.32 and its 200 day moving average is $200.07. VeriSign has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $242.23. The firm has a market cap of $22.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.79 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 12.9% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 104,110 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,777,000 after acquiring an additional 5,303 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth about $6,112,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 56.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 17,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,323,000 after purchasing an additional 6,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.9% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 5,993 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

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.