VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $233.56 on Wednesday. VeriSign has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $242.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $222.67 and its 200 day moving average is $199.67.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s 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 owns 23,735 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 127.2% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its position in VeriSign by 69.8% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 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.