Natixis Advisors L.P. Increases Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 625,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,145 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $36,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Nasdaq by 48.7% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 428,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,828,000 after purchasing an additional 140,286 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 10.9% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 446,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,715,000 after buying an additional 43,910 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV increased its stake in Nasdaq by 6.9% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 53,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,455 shares during the last quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 365,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,250,000 after buying an additional 83,227 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,326,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,396,000 after buying an additional 40,215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total transaction of $181,826.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,511,710.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,010,436 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,647,360. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ stock traded up $0.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.87. 2,889,284 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,357,425. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $64.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.94.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 46.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NDAQ shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.92.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc operates as a technology company that serves capital markets and other industries worldwide. It operates in three segments: Capital Access Platforms, Financial Technology, and Market Services. The Capital Access Platforms segment sells and distributes historical and real-time market data; and develops and licenses Nasdaq-branded indices and financial products.