Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Shares Purchased by Eventide Asset Management LLC

Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 707,048 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,406 shares during the period. Nasdaq makes up 1.1% of Eventide Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Eventide Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $68,812,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at about $530,100,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% in 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 period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,567,843 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $589,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,736,322 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 7.7% in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,965,751 shares in the company, valued at $167,953,765.44. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $700,222.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 141,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. This trade represents a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 138,162 shares of company stock valued at $11,932,913. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Loop Capital set a $113.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.36.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $88.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $88.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.10. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.09 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The company has a market capitalization of $50.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

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

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.