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How to buy VeriSign stock
Own VeriSign stock in just a few minutes.
VeriSign, Inc is a software-infrastructure business based in the US. VeriSign shares (VRSN) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. VeriSign employs 907 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$1.3 billion.
How to buy shares in VeriSign
- Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
- Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
- Search for VeriSign. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: VRSN. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
- Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until VeriSign reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
- Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of VeriSign, depending on your broker.
- Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of VeriSign. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.
What's in this guide?
- VRSN shares summary
- Compare share dealing platforms
- Is VRSN stock a buy or sell?
- Stock performance over time
- Can I short VRSN shares?
- Is VRSN suitable for ethical investing?
- Are VRSN shares over-valued?
- VeriSign's financials
- How volatile are VRSN shares?
- Does VeriSign pay a dividend?
- Have VRSN shares ever split?
- Other common questions
VeriSign share price
Use our graph to track the performance of VRSN stocks over time.VeriSign shares at a glance
Information last updated 2021-04-09.
| 52-week range | USD$184.6 - USD$221.3 |
|---|---|
| 50-day moving average | USD$195.1092 |
| 200-day moving average | USD$200.9836 |
| Wall St. target price | USD$247 |
| PE ratio | 28.959 |
| Dividend yield | N/A (0%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | USD$7.07 |
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The value of any investment can go up or down depending on news, trends and market conditions. We are not investment advisers, so do your own due diligence to understand the risks before you invest.
Is it a good time to buy VeriSign stock?
The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.
This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.
Is VeriSign under- or over-valued?
Valuing VeriSign stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of VeriSign's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.
VeriSign's P/E ratio
VeriSign's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 29x. In other words, VeriSign shares trade at around 29x recent earnings.
That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.
VeriSign's PEG ratio
VeriSign's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 8.9991. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into VeriSign's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
VeriSign's EBITDA
VeriSign's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$870.6 million.
The EBITDA is a measure of a VeriSign's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
VeriSign financials
| Revenue TTM | USD$1.3 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 65.15% |
| Gross profit TTM | USD$1.1 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 28.45% |
| Return on equity TTM | 0% |
| Profit margin | 64.42% |
| Book value | $-12.022 |
| Market capitalisation | USD$23.2 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
Shorting VeriSign shares
There are currently 1.8 million VeriSign shares held short by investors – that's known as VeriSign's "short interest". This figure is 18.5% up from 1.5 million last month.
There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting VeriSign shares can be evaluated.
VeriSign's "short interest ratio" (SIR)
VeriSign's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of VeriSign shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of VeriSign shares traded daily (recently around 692062.20472441). VeriSign's SIR currently stands at 2.54. In other words for every 100,000 VeriSign shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2540 shares are currently held short.
However VeriSign's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of VeriSign shares, or, against the total number of tradable VeriSign shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case VeriSign's short interest could be expressed as 0.02% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 VeriSign shares in existence, roughly 20 shares are currently held short) or 0.0203% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable VeriSign shares, roughly 20 shares are currently held short).
Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against VeriSign.
Find out more about how you can short VeriSign stock.
VeriSign's environmental, social and governance track record
Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like VeriSign.
When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.
VeriSign's total ESG risk score
Total ESG risk: 26.77
Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and VeriSign's overall score of 26.77 (as at 12/31/2018) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 37th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.
ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like VeriSign is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).
VeriSign's environmental score
Environmental score: 6.08/100
VeriSign's environmental score of 6.08 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that VeriSign is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
VeriSign's social score
Social score: 17/100
VeriSign's social score of 17 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that VeriSign is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.
VeriSign's governance score
Governance score: 11.2/100
VeriSign's governance score puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that VeriSign is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary
VeriSign, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.
| Total ESG score | 26.77 |
|---|---|
| Total ESG percentile | 37.16 |
| Environmental score | 6.08 |
| Environmental score percentile | 7 |
| Social score | 17 |
| Social score percentile | 7 |
| Governance score | 11.2 |
| Governance score percentile | 7 |
VeriSign share dividends
We're not expecting VeriSign to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.
Have VeriSign's shares ever split?
VeriSign's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 6 December 1999. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your VeriSign shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for VeriSign shares which in turn could have impacted VeriSign's share price.
VeriSign share price volatility
Over the last 12 months, VeriSign's shares have ranged in value from as little as $184.6 up to $221.3. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while VeriSign's is 0.7981. This would suggest that VeriSign's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).
VeriSign overview
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. VeriSign, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
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