Analysts Set VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Price Target at $328.75

Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $328.75.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,363,670.54. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 33,200 shares of company stock valued at $9,142,891 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $282.94 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.17. VeriSign has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.69 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.