Diversify Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,000,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $530,100,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Nasdaq by 62.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,061,000 after buying an additional 3,567,843 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 82.0% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $589,897,000 after buying an additional 2,736,322 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,716,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,318,000 after buying an additional 1,404,348 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on NDAQ shares. Wall Street Zen raised Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $114.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Nasdaq from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.42.

Nasdaq Stock Up 3.8%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $91.36 on Thursday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.55 and a 1 year high of $101.79. The company has a market capitalization of $51.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $87.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.76.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 37.35%.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $700,222.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares in the company, valued at $12,808,798.70. This trade represents a 5.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.82, for a total transaction of $117,508.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,104.98. This trade represents a 11.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 24,551 shares of company stock worth $2,225,990 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.