AIA Group Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 18.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 89,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,600 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $7,564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,855,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,329,000 after purchasing an additional 45,783 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Nasdaq by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,933,000 after buying an additional 13,160 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth about $1,245,000. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth about $4,872,000. Finally, MKP Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,996,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NDAQ. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.82, for a total transaction of $117,508.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,104.98. The trade was a 11.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $700,222.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. This trade represents a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,551 shares of company stock worth $2,225,990. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NDAQ opened at $91.64 on Monday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.55 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $87.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.68. The company has a market cap of $51.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 37.35%.

Nasdaq Company Profile

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.