Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock Price

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) had its price target lifted by research analysts at Citigroup from $246.00 to $250.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target suggests a potential upside of 14.38% from the stock’s current price.

VRSN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of VeriSign stock traded up $2.56 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $218.58. 148,103 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 693,136. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.61. The firm has a market cap of $21.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.44 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $219.57.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 272 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 14,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,964,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 5,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 181,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,614,000 after purchasing an additional 11,198 shares during 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.