Vancity Investment Management Ltd Trims Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Vancity Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 7.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 146,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,057 shares during the quarter. Nasdaq accounts for approximately 1.7% of Vancity Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Vancity Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $11,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 7,824.5% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 51,567,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,064,576,000 after buying an additional 50,917,084 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,931,637,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,878,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,930,808,000 after acquiring an additional 259,408 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,851,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,243,807,000 after acquiring an additional 378,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Nasdaq by 62.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,061,000 after acquiring an additional 3,567,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NDAQ shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $111.00 target price (up from $108.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.30.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ stock opened at $96.88 on Monday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $76.55 and a one year high of $101.79. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $54.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.97.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.09. Nasdaq had a net margin of 22.60% and a return on equity of 18.38%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 36.15%.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, insider Nelson Griggs sold 11,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.35, for a total transaction of $1,060,813.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 205,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,751,846.35. This represents a 5.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Ab Investor acquired 56,782 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the purchase, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,024,603,103.84. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,797 shares of company stock valued at $3,926,319. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.