Verus Financial Partners Inc. Lowers Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Verus Financial Partners Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 241 shares during the quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 7.7% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,274,000 after purchasing an additional 3,096 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 61.1% in the first quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 17,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 6,764 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 1.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,268,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,098,000 after purchasing an additional 27,622 shares during the last quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the first quarter worth $222,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 3.9% in the first quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 861,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,349,000 after purchasing an additional 32,004 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 8,691 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.45, for a total transaction of $812,173.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,879 shares in the company, valued at $829,742.55. The trade was a 49.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.49, for a total transaction of $201,006.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 92,551 shares in the company, valued at $8,837,694.99. This represents a 2.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $87.34 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.84 and a 1 year high of $97.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50-day moving average is $93.46 and its 200 day moving average is $85.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.98.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.07. Nasdaq had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 41.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective (up previously from $96.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.31.

About Nasdaq

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.