The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 127,336 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 2.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,535,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 127,336 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $385,005,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $5,819,727,000 after buying an additional 268,481 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings 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 worth $2,683,485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,258,964 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 worth $1,930,808,000 after acquiring an additional 259,408 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 378,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,567,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $109.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at $5,024,603,103.84. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $93.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $52.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.40. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.55 and a twelve month high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 22.60% and a return on equity of 18.38%. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.15%.

Nasdaq 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.