Aberdeen Group plc Acquires 14,251 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 324,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,251 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $28,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 33.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,274,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,438,897,000 after purchasing an additional 6,840,735 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $406,823,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 5.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,800,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,989,636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,820,339 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 261.7% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,690,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $240,556,000 after buying an additional 1,946,479 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 4,365.0% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,641,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $146,749,000 after buying an additional 1,604,368 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus raised Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up previously from $114.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total transaction of $450,045.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 125,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,568,656.74. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.91, for a total value of $29,073,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,924,903 shares in the company, valued at $186,542,349.73. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 604,500 shares of company stock worth $58,440,045 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $80.24 on Wednesday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.84 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79. The company has a market cap of $45.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.94.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 21.77% and a return on equity of 16.90%. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 34.95%.

Nasdaq Company 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.