Robert W. Baird Upgrades VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) to Outperform

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) was upgraded by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $250.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $200.00. Robert W. Baird’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 30.79% from the stock’s current price.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $191.14 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23 and a beta of 0.92. VeriSign has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $220.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.29.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 2,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $466,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,615,990. The trade was a 6.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,776 shares of company stock valued at $1,102,524 over the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in VeriSign by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,293,000 after purchasing an additional 120,958 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 56.3% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 17,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,323,000 after acquiring an additional 6,303 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 50.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 69,563 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,368,000 after acquiring an additional 23,306 shares in the last quarter. Ibex Investors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth $622,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 5,303 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About VeriSign

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.