Verity & Verity LLC Grows Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in Nasdaq by 13,532.3% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,040,000 after acquiring an additional 3,970,658 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its position in Nasdaq by 28.4% during the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,436,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $532,357,000 after buying an additional 1,866,219 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 283.8% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 1,154,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,880,000 after acquiring an additional 853,414 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 67.6% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,022,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $121,879,000 after acquiring an additional 815,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 435.6% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 645,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,386,000 after acquiring an additional 524,874 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised their price target on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.87.

Nasdaq Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $79.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $45.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.95. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $53.36 and a one year high of $80.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.59.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The company’s revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.49%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total value of $935,040.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 114,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,928,073.60. This trade represents a 9.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $444,086.28. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 205,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,918,196.14. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,384 shares of company stock worth $2,860,902. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Profile

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.