Blair William & Co. IL Raises Stock Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 616,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,524 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.11% of Nasdaq worth $54,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 41.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 77,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,819,000 after acquiring an additional 22,685 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC bought a new position in Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at about $1,511,000. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 605,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,561,000 after purchasing an additional 19,078 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Nasdaq by 9.9% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 800,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,594,000 after acquiring an additional 72,032 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,275,902,000 after acquiring an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NDAQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Argus raised Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, January 9th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price (up from $114.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on Nasdaq and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total value of $450,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 125,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,568,656.74. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total transaction of $28,917,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,924,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $185,541,400.17. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 604,500 shares of company stock valued at $58,440,045. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $88.43 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.84 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.01. The firm has a market cap of $50.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.03.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 21.77%.The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.95%.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.