VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $235.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.45 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $242.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $199.44.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 544.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares in the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 3,996.0% during the fourth quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 3,996 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 322.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,639,000 after buying an additional 199,583 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,462 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,235,000 after buying an additional 2,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 602.6% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,225,000 after purchasing an additional 10,045 shares during the last quarter. 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.