Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 429,938 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 259.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 595,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 429,938 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.10% of Nasdaq worth $50,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $530,100,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Nasdaq by 62.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3,567,843 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC raised its position in Nasdaq by 82.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $589,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,736,322 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 46.0% in the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,621,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $837,425,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 7.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,735,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,348 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NDAQ. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Loop Capital set a $113.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.79.

Nasdaq Trading Down 4.9%

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $77.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.97. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.09 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $88.41 and a 200 day moving average of $89.73.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.35%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total transaction of $9,706,923.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,965,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,953,765.44. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.82, for a total value of $117,508.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 10,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $896,104.98. This represents a 11.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 138,162 shares of company stock valued at $11,932,913. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.