Quantinno Capital Management LP Grows Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 78.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,276 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,508 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 291.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in VeriSign by 117.2% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in VeriSign by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,776 shares of company stock valued at $1,102,524. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $199.10. 379,301 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 661,777. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $185.58 and a 200-day moving average of $181.82. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $220.91. The firm has a market cap of $19.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 0.92.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The firm had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $390.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

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.