Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 745,965 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,065,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 745,965 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Nasdaq worth $2,620,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 74.9% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 158.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 313.7% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Nasdaq from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $76.00 to $64.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.00.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $58.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $33.72 billion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.94. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.88 and a twelve month high of $64.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.70.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released 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). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.53%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,010,436 shares of company stock worth $1,798,647,360 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.