Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Shares Purchased by NorthRock Partners LLC

NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 39.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,187 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the first quarter valued at approximately $241,614,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 40.8% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,494,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $416,795,000 after buying an additional 1,592,057 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 5.1% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 20,433,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,550,115,000 after buying an additional 993,553 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 104.5% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,655,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $125,574,000 after buying an additional 845,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 2,462.5% in the first quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 788,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,797,000 after buying an additional 757,488 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the firm’s 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 $8,837,694.99. This trade represents a 2.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 8,691 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.45, for a total value of $812,173.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,742.55. This represents a 49.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley set a $90.00 price objective on Nasdaq and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target (up from $99.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $89.54 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $92.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.84 and a 1 year high of $97.63.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.07. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 18.59%.The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.54%.

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.