VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $214.19 and last traded at $213.99, with a volume of 128792 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $210.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $20.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.07.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 EPS.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Concord Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 93.2% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in VeriSign by 69.8% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Tobam increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 61.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 311 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 138.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter valued at $76,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently 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.