How to buy VeriSign stock | 207.34

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 872 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$1.2 billion.

How to buy shares in VeriSign

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$207.34, 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.
6. 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.

How has coronavirus impacted VeriSign's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, VeriSign's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was USD$207.34, which is 0.59% up on its pre-crash value of USD$206.12 and 39.37% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$148.77.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of VeriSign shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$718.06 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$984.87.

VeriSign share price

Use our graph to track the performance of VRSN stocks over time.

VeriSign shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-20.

Latest market close	USD$207.34
52-week range	USD$148.77 - USD$221.3
50-day moving average	USD$205.6549
200-day moving average	USD$207.4919
Wall St. target price	USD$240.57
PE ratio	30.9037
Dividend yield	N/A (0%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$6.736

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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.

Technical Analysis of VeriSign, Inc by TradingView

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.

VeriSign price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $207.34 from 2020-10-16

1 week (2020-11-20)	N/A
1 month (2020-10-30)	8.73%
3 months (2020-09-01)	-3.91%
6 months (2020-05-28)	N/A

1 year (2019-11-27)	N/A
2 years (2018-11-27)	N/A
3 years (2017-11-27)	N/A
5 years (2015-11-27)	N/A

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 31x. In other words, VeriSign shares trade at around 31x 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 3.2878. 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$863.5 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$1.2 billion
Operating margin TTM	65.6%
Gross profit TTM	USD$1.1 billion
Return on assets TTM	27.53%
Return on equity TTM	0%
Profit margin	63.32%
Book value	$-12.022
Market capitalisation	USD$23.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting VeriSign shares

There are currently 1.1 million VeriSign shares held short by investors – that's known as VeriSign's "short interest". This figure is 27.2% down from 1.4 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 789648.87218045). VeriSign's SIR currently stands at 1.33. In other words for every 100,000 VeriSign shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1330 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 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 VeriSign shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0119% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable VeriSign shares, roughly 12 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 10/01/2020) 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: 2020-10-01.

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 7 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 $148.77 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 0.8693. 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.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of VeriSign is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 1.32% of VeriSign shares are held by insiders and 94.546% by institutions.

• How many people work for VeriSign?

  Latest data suggests 872 work at VeriSign.

• When does the fiscal year end for VeriSign?

  VeriSign's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is VeriSign based?

  VeriSign's address is: 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, VA, United States, 20190

• What is VeriSign's ISIN number?

  VeriSign's international securities identification number is: US92343E1029

• What is VeriSign's CUSIP number?

  VeriSign's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 92343E102