Wedbush Begins Coverage on VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Equities research analysts at Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.53% from the stock’s previous close.

VRSN has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.25.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $277.66 on Thursday. VeriSign has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.27 billion, a PE ratio of 30.68 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $278.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.35.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. Analysts predict that VeriSign will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 36,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 26,300 shares of company stock worth $7,125,942 in the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

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.