StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.
A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on VeriSign
VeriSign Stock Up 1.1 %
Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded up $2.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $237.01. The company had a trading volume of 286,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 733,486. The stock has a market cap of $22.42 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign has a one year low of $167.05 and a one year high of $258.67. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $235.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.56.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced 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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign
A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,746,661,000 after buying an additional 455,844 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $352,071,000 after acquiring an additional 35,326 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,327,130 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $273,853,000 after acquiring an additional 229,311 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in VeriSign by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $265,894,000 after purchasing an additional 116,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,062,000 after purchasing an additional 403,760 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.
VeriSign Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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