Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Holdings Cut by Raiffeisen Bank International AG

Raiffeisen Bank International AG reduced its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 484,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,483 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG owned 0.09% of Nasdaq worth $37,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the second quarter valued at $2,931,637,000. State Street Corp increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 259,408 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 3.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 378,577 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,567,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harris Associates L P lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,621,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $837,425,000 after buying an additional 2,716,280 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ opened at $98.71 on Friday. 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 cap of $55.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $92.52 and a 200-day moving average of $88.90. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $76.55 and a 52-week high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 18.38% and a net margin of 22.60%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective (up from $108.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, July 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated 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 assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.30.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, major shareholder Ab Investor acquired 56,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $85.98 per share, with a total value of $4,882,116.36. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,024,603,103.84. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total transaction of $1,203,930.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 128,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,881,214.73. This represents a 9.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,797 shares of company stock worth $3,926,319. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Nasdaq

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.