VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VRSN. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $255.43 on Thursday. VeriSign has a 52-week low of $167.05 and a 52-week high of $258.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $234.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.43. The company has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in VeriSign by 0.4% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 24,148 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,587,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 17,441 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,313,000 after buying an additional 2,687 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 6,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after buying an additional 2,996 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter valued at approximately $515,000. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 66.1% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

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.