QRG Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

QRG Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 30.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,116 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $2,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at about $530,100,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Nasdaq by 62.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3,567,843 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $589,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,736,322 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 46.0% in the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,621,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $837,425,000 after buying an additional 2,716,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,735,318,000 after buying an additional 1,404,348 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.82, for a total value of $117,508.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,089 shares in the company, valued at $896,104.98. This represents a 11.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total value of $700,222.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,551 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,990. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NDAQ. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.54.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $85.11. The stock had a trading volume of 361,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,058,800. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $87.53 and its 200 day moving average is $89.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.55 and a twelve month high of $101.79.

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 business had revenue of $2.14 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. 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 1.5%. 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.