VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Rating) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,950,000 shares, a growth of 21.1% from the October 31st total of 1,610,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 663,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages have weighed in on VRSN. StockNews.com began coverage on VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on VeriSign to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 1st.
Insider Transactions at VeriSign
In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $245,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,485,800. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 692 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.35, for a total transaction of $139,334.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,020,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,226 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $245,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,485,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,144 shares of company stock valued at $630,991 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 96.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 375 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at about $210,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at about $287,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,882,000. Finally, Power Corp of Canada bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.96% of the company’s stock.
VeriSign Trading Up 1.3 %
VRSN stock traded up $2.54 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $202.35. The stock had a trading volume of 10,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 513,841. VeriSign has a 1-year low of $155.25 and a 1-year high of $257.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $185.42 and a 200 day moving average of $181.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90 and a beta of 1.01.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 27th. The information services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $357.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $356.40 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 59.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
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. It enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of the 13 internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which support global e-commerce.
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Read More: VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Short Interest Update