Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 7.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,239,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,173,981 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 8.39% of Nasdaq worth $3,043,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banco Santander S.A. boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 26.8% during the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 284,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,930,000 after buying an additional 60,059 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 9,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in Nasdaq by 55.8% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 27,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 9,894 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the first quarter worth $76,000. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Nasdaq by 7.2% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total transaction of $181,826.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NDAQ traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $62.51. The company had a trading volume of 1,506,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,875,217. 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 has a market capitalization of $35.96 billion, a PE ratio of 32.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $64.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.49.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on NDAQ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com cut Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.08.

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.