Plato Investment Management Ltd Makes New Investment in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 8,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $650,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Nasdaq by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,855,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $277,329,000 after buying an additional 45,783 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Nasdaq by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,933,000 after acquiring an additional 13,160 shares during the last quarter. MKP Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $33,996,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,245,000. Finally, Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,872,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. 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. Zacks Research raised Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, July 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $110.30.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $96.71 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $89.26 and its 200-day moving average is $87.97. The company has a market cap of $54.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.20, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $76.55 and a 52-week high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released 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 business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 11,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.35, for a total value of $1,060,813.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 205,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,751,846.35. This trade represents a 5.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $1,203,930.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 128,293 shares in the company, valued at $11,881,214.73. The trade was a 9.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 41,797 shares of company stock valued at $3,926,319 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% 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.