VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Price Target Lowered to $200.00 at Robert W. Baird

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its target price trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $215.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on VRSN. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd.

VeriSign Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $175.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.57 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign has a 1-year low of $174.51 and a 1-year high of $229.72. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $189.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.90.

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

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,427,122.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 41,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,971,450. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $119,737.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,427,122.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,877 shares of company stock worth $2,878,864 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $207,161,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 233,811 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 220,106 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 197,169 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 125,901 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

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.