Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 37,782 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,019,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 37,782 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Nasdaq worth $86,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 0.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 268,481 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Nasdaq by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,627,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,683,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,964 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,851,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,243,807,000 after buying an additional 378,577 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 62.6% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ NDAQ traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $88.08. 2,620,120 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,808,497. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $76.55 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.01. The company has a market cap of $49.81 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.31 dividend. 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 was Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.35%.

Insider Activity

In other Nasdaq news, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total transaction of $1,408,258.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,530,126. This represents a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders sold 24,551 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,990. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $114.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.92.

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.