Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Shares Bought by Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP

Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 430,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,908 shares during the period. Nasdaq comprises 1.2% of Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $41,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,916,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,819,727,000 after buying an additional 268,481 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,258,964 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,878,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,930,808,000 after buying an additional 259,408 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,851,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,243,807,000 after buying an additional 378,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 62.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $900,061,000 after buying an additional 3,567,843 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective 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 report on Sunday, May 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.36.

Nasdaq Trading Up 2.6%

NDAQ opened at $88.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $88.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.09 and a 12-month high of $101.79.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 company posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.82, for a total transaction of $117,508.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,104.98. This represents a 11.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $12,808,798.70. This trade represents a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 138,162 shares of company stock valued at $11,932,913 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.