Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Shares Sold by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 474,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,045 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $46,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 6.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,275,902,000 after purchasing an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Nasdaq by 7.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,348 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Nasdaq by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,627,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,683,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,964 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at about $110,259,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in Nasdaq by 129.0% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,159,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $191,013,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,580 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total value of $700,222.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares in the company, valued at $12,808,798.70. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total value of $1,408,258.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,530,126. The trade was a 6.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 531,002 shares of company stock worth $49,368,941. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on NDAQ. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.15.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ stock opened at $91.32 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $86.49 and a 200-day moving average of $89.65. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $76.86 and a 12-month high of $101.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $51.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.51, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.98.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Nasdaq 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.