Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Shares Bought by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 75,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 595 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $4,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 89.3% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 164.4% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the second quarter worth about $34,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $72.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $41.74 billion, a PE ratio of 38.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.84. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.88 and a 1-year high of $74.17.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 15.45% and a net margin of 14.43%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America upgraded Nasdaq from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $53.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Seller Lp Argus sold 42,804,207 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total transaction of $2,764,295,688.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,804,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,764,295,688.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq 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.