VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Price Target Raised to $341.00

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its target price hoisted by Wedbush from $324.00 to $341.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

VRSN has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $293.35 on Tuesday. VeriSign has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.82 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $278.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $268.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that VeriSign will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,752,855.72. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.78, for a total value of $145,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 33,395 shares in the company, valued at $9,710,598.10. This trade represents a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 39,800 shares of company stock worth $10,998,235 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its position in VeriSign by 2,587.2% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 78,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,861,000 after purchasing an additional 76,013 shares during the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise increased its stake in VeriSign by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,481 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter worth about $67,671,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in VeriSign by 30,008.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,563,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,694,816,000 after buying an additional 34,448,791 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $546,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in 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.