VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Trading Down 4.2% After Analyst Downgrade

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)’s stock price dropped 4.2% on Friday after Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $200.00. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the stock. VeriSign traded as low as $174.73 and last traded at $174.98. Approximately 818,908 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 38% from the average daily volume of 592,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $182.68.

VRSN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,088,110. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,088,110. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864. 0.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $207,161,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $369,989,000 after purchasing an additional 233,811 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $89,624,000 after purchasing an additional 220,106 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 471.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 238,978 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $49,220,000 after purchasing an additional 197,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,090,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $220,771,000 after purchasing an additional 125,901 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 3.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $189.29 and a 200-day moving average of $199.97.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $384.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.39% and a net margin of 55.04%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 EPS.

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.