Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Stock Holdings Lifted by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 220.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 153,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 105,438 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $14,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 6.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,275,902,000 after acquiring an additional 3,848,406 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 7.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,348 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,044,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $446,188,000 after purchasing an additional 532,775 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $406,823,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,198,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,367,000 after purchasing an additional 116,542 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NDAQ. TD Cowen upgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Argus upgraded Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.80.

Nasdaq Trading Down 2.7%

Nasdaq stock opened at $81.48 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.84 and a 12-month high of $101.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.05.

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

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 34.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 92,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.08, for a total value of $8,363,027.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,079,323 shares in the company, valued at $187,305,415.84. This represents a 4.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total value of $450,045.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 125,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,568,656.74. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 697,340 shares of company stock worth $66,803,072 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.