Man Group plc Invests $54.16 Million in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Man Group plc bought a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 687,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $54,155,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,916,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,819,727,000 after purchasing an additional 268,481 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at $2,931,637,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 259,408 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 378,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Nasdaq by 62.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,061,000 after buying an additional 3,567,843 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nasdaq news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 11,010 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.35, for a total transaction of $1,060,813.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 205,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,751,846.35. The trade was a 5.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $1,203,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 128,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,881,214.73. The trade was a 9.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,797 shares of company stock valued at $3,926,319. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $98.73 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.55 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 22.60% and a return on equity of 18.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NDAQ shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $110.30.

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.