Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Shares Sold by Montag A & Associates Inc.

Montag A & Associates Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 32.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,268 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $3,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 0.5% during the fourth 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 lifted its position 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 worth $2,683,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,964 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,878,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,930,808,000 after purchasing an additional 259,408 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 3.0% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 378,577 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 62.6% during the 4th 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. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $86.43 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.99. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $76.55 and a 52-week high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its 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. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 37.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $12,808,798.70. The trade was a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $85.98 per share, with a total value of $4,882,116.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at $5,024,603,103.84. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,551 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,990. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NDAQ. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.54.

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.