Southeast Asset Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 10,415 Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Southeast Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 10,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $921,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 33.5% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 6,840,735 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the second quarter valued at approximately $406,823,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 261.7% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 4,365.0% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,641,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $146,749,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604,368 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, January 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up from $114.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.13.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $79.47 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $45.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $94.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.84 and a 52-week high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted 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. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 21.77%.The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the company’s 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 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. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,924,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,542,349.73. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 604,500 shares of company stock valued at $58,440,045 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.