Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Shares Bought by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,312 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $17,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth approximately $530,100,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 6.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,275,902,000 after purchasing an additional 3,848,406 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 7.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,348 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,627,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,683,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the second quarter valued at approximately $110,259,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on NDAQ shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $113.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.15.

Nasdaq Stock Down 5.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $87.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $49.72 billion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.97. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.09 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.08.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total value of $9,706,923.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,965,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,953,765.44. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total transaction of $1,408,258.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 215,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,530,126. This trade represents a 6.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 231,002 shares of company stock worth $20,295,941 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.