Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Has $57.36 Million Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 55.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 590,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 210,815 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $57,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Nasdaq by 6.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,275,902,000 after acquiring an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 4,365.0% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,641,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $146,749,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604,368 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 7.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,735,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,348 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,535,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $316,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 2nd quarter valued at about $110,259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total transaction of $450,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 125,674 shares in the company, valued at $12,568,656.74. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 92,840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.08, for a total value of $8,363,027.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,079,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $187,305,415.84. The trade was a 4.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 697,340 shares of company stock worth $66,803,072 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on NDAQ shares. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on Nasdaq and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up from $114.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.80.

Nasdaq Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $83.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $47.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.04. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.84 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $87.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 21.77% and a return on equity of 16.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 34.95%.

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.