Robert W. Baird Lowers VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Price Target to $200.00

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its price objective trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $215.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on VRSN. Citigroup lowered their price objective on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $175.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.51 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.66. VeriSign has a 1 year low of $174.28 and a 1 year high of $229.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.21% and a net margin of 55.04%. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,427,122.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,427,122.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock worth $2,878,864. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 272,103 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $56,042,000 after purchasing an additional 25,639 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP raised its holdings in VeriSign by 142.0% in the fourth quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 29,874 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,000 after purchasing an additional 17,529 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 72,544 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,941,000 after purchasing an additional 9,888 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP raised its holdings in VeriSign by 41.4% in the third quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 1,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 85,196 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,547,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.