Stephens Inc. AR Acquires Shares of 6,461 Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Stephens Inc. AR acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 1,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the 1st quarter worth $358,000. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 56.8% in the 1st quarter. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA now owns 12,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after buying an additional 4,376 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Nasdaq by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 15,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 39.7% during the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 5,486 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Nasdaq from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Barclays reduced their price target on Nasdaq from $114.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on Nasdaq in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.82, for a total value of $117,508.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 10,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $896,104.98. This trade represents a 11.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $700,222.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares in the company, valued at $12,808,798.70. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 24,551 shares of company stock worth $2,225,990 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.08. 2,620,120 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,808,497. The stock has a market cap of $49.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $76.55 and a 12 month high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.35%.

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.