Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 10.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 29,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,848 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $2,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,268,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,098,000 after purchasing an additional 27,622 shares during the period. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. 111 Capital boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 67.0% during the second quarter. 111 Capital now owns 11,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 4,450 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 7.9% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 96,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,059,000 after purchasing an additional 7,091 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 192.2% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 177,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,442,000 after purchasing an additional 116,545 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $87.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $90.99 and a 200 day moving average of $87.44. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.84 and a 52 week high of $97.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.41, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.06. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 19.90%.The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 38.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up previously from $99.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.56.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.49, for a total value of $201,006.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 92,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,837,694.99. This represents a 2.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.