Montag A & Associates Inc. Boosts Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 32,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,787 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $1,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 79,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,861,000 after buying an additional 10,125 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Nasdaq by 33.9% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 132,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,426,000 after purchasing an additional 33,464 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the third quarter worth $276,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Nasdaq by 26.4% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 243,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,839,000 after purchasing an additional 50,880 shares during the period. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG grew its stake in Nasdaq by 230.9% in the third quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 795,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,675,000 after purchasing an additional 555,412 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $60.18. 1,881,598 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,157,118. The company has a market cap of $34.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $64.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.69 and a 200 day moving average of $57.09.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley raised Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,010,436 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,647,360. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.