Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Acquires 904 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 70.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Nasdaq by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,870,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,469,028,000 after acquiring an additional 196,739 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,756,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,273,164,000 after purchasing an additional 126,348 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,735,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $422,030,000 after purchasing an additional 125,136 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 214.0% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,280,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,787,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,564,000 after purchasing an additional 681,238 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $60.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.93. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.88 and a fifty-two week high of $64.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 17.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.71%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Edward Jones assumed coverage on Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.09.

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.