KBC Group NV Buys 6,851 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

KBC Group NV raised its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,851 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $13,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,916,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,819,727,000 after purchasing an additional 268,481 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,627,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,683,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,964 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised 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 position in Nasdaq by 3.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 3,567,843 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $90.24 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $87.41 and a 200-day moving average of $88.58. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.55 and a 1 year high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Ab Investor acquired 56,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total value of $1,408,258.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares in the company, valued at $19,530,126. The trade was a 6.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 24,551 shares of company stock worth $2,225,990 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on NDAQ. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (up from $101.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $108.00.

Nasdaq 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.