Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Buys 1,604,368 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 4,365.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,641,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,604,368 shares during the quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. owned approximately 0.29% of Nasdaq worth $146,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Nasdaq by 205.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,020,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,257,000 after purchasing an additional 686,237 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 59.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 180,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,126,000 after buying an additional 67,339 shares during the last quarter. Sandia Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at approximately $447,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at approximately $64,653,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 90.5% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 393,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,165,000 after acquiring an additional 186,801 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $93.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.02. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.84 and a 52-week high of $97.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.90.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.06. Nasdaq had a net margin of 19.90% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 38.57%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.40, for a total transaction of $179,767.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 84,974 shares in the company, valued at $7,256,779.60. This represents a 2.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on NDAQ. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $114.00 target price (up from $109.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $97.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up previously from $99.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.33.

Nasdaq Profile

Nasdaq, Inc operates as a technology company that serves capital markets and other industries worldwide. It operates in three segments: Capital Access Platforms, Financial Technology, and Market Services. The Capital Access Platforms segment sells and distributes historical and real-time market data; and develops and licenses Nasdaq-branded indices and financial products.