Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 196,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,353,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 33.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,274,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,438,897,000 after acquiring an additional 6,840,735 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the second quarter worth $406,823,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,275,902,000 after purchasing an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in Nasdaq by 261.7% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,690,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $240,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,946,479 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 4,365.0% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,641,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $146,749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604,368 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ stock opened at $88.43 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.84 and a 12-month high of $101.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 21.77%.Nasdaq’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 34.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 125,674 shares in the company, 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.91, for a total transaction of $29,073,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,924,903 shares in the company, valued at $186,542,349.73. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 604,500 shares of company stock valued at $58,440,045. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on Nasdaq and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.80.

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.