VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup raised 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 upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.3 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $227.18 and its 200 day moving average is $202.79. The firm has a market cap of $23.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.67 and a beta of 0.87.

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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in VeriSign by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 135,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,047,000 after buying an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. 111 Capital bought a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $516,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $254,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $3,348,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $45,526,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.