VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $247.30 and last traded at $245.36, with a volume of 832186 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $244.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRSN. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.67 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in VeriSign in the third quarter worth about $392,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in VeriSign by 186.2% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 2,355 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 44.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 33,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,324,000 after acquiring an additional 10,262 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $100,214,000 after purchasing an additional 9,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 233,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,322,000 after purchasing an additional 20,914 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.