Payden & Rygel Reduces Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Payden & Rygel lowered its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,100 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $8,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 33.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,274,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,438,897,000 after purchasing an additional 6,840,735 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 2nd quarter valued at $406,823,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,275,902,000 after buying an additional 3,848,406 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 261.7% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,690,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $240,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,946,479 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 4,365.0% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NDAQ. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on Nasdaq and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Argus upgraded Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.13.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 125,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,568,656.74. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.91, for a total value of $29,073,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,924,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,542,349.73. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 604,500 shares of company stock valued at $58,440,045. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $81.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.84 and a 52-week high of $101.79. The company has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $93.76 and its 200 day moving average is $91.63.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 21.77%.The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Nasdaq’s dividend 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.