Tidal Investments LLC Buys 9,619 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 54.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 27,175 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,619 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 117.2% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 93.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $197.40 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $220.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $186.05 and its 200 day moving average is $182.12.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released 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 firm earned $1.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,382,670. This represents a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,776 shares of company stock valued at $1,102,524. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.