VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

VRSN has been the topic of several other reports. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ:VRSN traded down $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $255.43. The company had a trading volume of 1,450,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 725,856. VeriSign has a 52 week low of $167.05 and a 52 week high of $258.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $234.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $206.43.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released 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 Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 156.4% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 846 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign during the first quarter worth $260,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in VeriSign by 24.0% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in VeriSign by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 135,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 111 Capital bought a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $516,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Company Profile

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.