Quantinno Capital Management LP Acquires 9,884 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 96.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,160 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,884 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $252,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $563,000. NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $350,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 188.8% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,936 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,781,000 after purchasing an additional 18,263 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,414 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,327,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total transaction of $112,788.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,335 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,579,769.95. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total value of $170,274.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,059,955.65. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $283.14 on Monday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $168.79 and a 52 week high of $288.95. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $256.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.44. The company has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39 and a beta of 0.80.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The company had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $400.44 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a -- dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is 37.65%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VRSN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.