VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Given New $275.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $255.00 to $275.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price suggests a potential upside of 8.32% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on VRSN. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $253.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.02 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $231.27 and a 200 day moving average of $205.23. VeriSign has a 12 month low of $167.05 and a 12 month high of $257.14.

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

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. 111 Capital purchased a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth about $516,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $254,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,348,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth about $45,526,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

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.