Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $352.00.
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price objective on VeriSign in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd.
View Our Latest Analysis on VRSN
VeriSign Stock Performance
VRSN opened at $307.01 on Friday. VeriSign has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $294.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.54 billion, a PE ratio of 33.01 and a beta of 0.69.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). VeriSign had a net margin of 49.06% and a negative return on equity of 38.40%. The company had revenue of $443.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
VeriSign Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.84%.
Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign
In related news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 394,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,959,300.43. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,856 shares of company stock worth $13,497,228. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of VeriSign
Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in VeriSign by 120.8% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
VeriSign Company Profile
VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.
The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.
See Also
- Five stocks we like better than VeriSign
- Boeing Got Its MAX 10 Approval, But Q3 Delivered a Reality Check
- The Invisible AI Backbone: Corning’s AI Fiber Play
- Heavy Metal: Why Nucor Could Be an Overlooked AI Infrastructure Winner
- Why Tesla’s Upside Is About More Than a SpaceX Merger
Receive News & Ratings for VeriSign Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for VeriSign and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
