VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Announces Earnings Results

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00, Zacks reports. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.3 %

VRSN stock traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $220.18. 889,911 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 712,371. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $204.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.60 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $222.25.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

About VeriSign

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.