Johnson Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 394.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,218 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Nasdaq by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,855,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,329,000 after purchasing an additional 45,783 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,933,000 after purchasing an additional 13,160 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $1,245,000. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $4,872,000. Finally, MKP Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $33,996,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NDAQ shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $114.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $108.00.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction 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 $12,808,798.70. The trade was a 5.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 10,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,104.98. The trade was a 11.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 24,551 shares of company stock worth $2,225,990 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Down 1.8%

NDAQ opened at $90.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $51.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.58. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $76.55 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 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.