Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Wedbush from $351.00 to $367.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 21.86% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $301.17 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $293.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $283.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.97 and a beta of 0.69. VeriSign has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $443.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.06% and a negative return on equity of 38.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.27 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that VeriSign will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $146,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,349,700.30. This represents a 1.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.30, for a total transaction of $1,010,790.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 371,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,890,610.10. This trade represents a 0.88% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 43,100 shares of company stock valued at $12,574,391 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,044,157,000 after purchasing an additional 73,583 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its position in VeriSign by 48.5% in the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $227,252,000 after purchasing an additional 298,895 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

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.