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

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Citigroup from $210.00 to $238.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.75% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.3 %

VRSN stock opened at $205.62 on Friday. VeriSign has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $210.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.91 and a beta of 0.89.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,382,670. This trade represents a 3.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $329,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,025 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 59.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 102,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,224,000 after purchasing an additional 38,036 shares during the period. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,204,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 54.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,175 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.