Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 73,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,651,000.

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

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.0%

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $99.31 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.55 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The company has a market cap of $55.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced 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 company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 22.60% and a return on equity of 18.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $113.00 price objective (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,000 shares of Nasdaq 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 128,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,881,214.73. The trade was a 9.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the purchase, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,024,603,103.84. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase 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 ninety days. 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.