Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,885 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 11.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $1,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 240,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,198,000 after purchasing an additional 16,797 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at $1,949,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 312.0% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 183,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,601,000 after purchasing an additional 139,228 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 415,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,134,000 after purchasing an additional 46,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 237.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 30,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,000 after acquiring an additional 21,699 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Edward Jones assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total transaction of $181,826.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,511,710.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ traded up $0.19 on Wednesday, hitting $63.49. 2,626,000 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,811,885. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.40. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $64.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.94.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.53%.

Nasdaq Company 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.