Panagora Asset Management Inc. Has $56.58 Million Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 192.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 582,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 383,217 shares during the quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Nasdaq worth $56,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Nasdaq by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,916,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,819,727,000 after acquiring an additional 268,481 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 4.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,258,964 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,878,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,930,808,000 after acquiring an additional 259,408 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,851,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,243,807,000 after acquiring an additional 378,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 62.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $900,061,000 after acquiring an additional 3,567,843 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.36.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total transaction of $9,706,923.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,965,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,953,765.44. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $700,222.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 138,162 shares of company stock valued at $11,932,913 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $88.98 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $50.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.09 and a 12-month high of $101.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.11. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 37.35%.

About Nasdaq

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.