VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) has received an average rating of “Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $333.00.

VRSN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wedbush upped their price objective on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $293.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $278.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $268.72. The stock has a market cap of $26.49 billion, a PE ratio of 31.82 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that VeriSign will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.14%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.78, for a total value of $145,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 33,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,710,598.10. This represents a 1.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the 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 directly owned 394,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,959,300.43. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $10,998,235. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its position in VeriSign by 2,587.2% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 78,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,861,000 after purchasing an additional 76,013 shares during the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.8% in the second quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,481 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth approximately $67,671,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 30,008.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,563,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,694,816,000 after buying an additional 34,448,791 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $546,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.