Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Shares Bought by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 2,158.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 50,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,136 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $4,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in Nasdaq by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Nasdaq by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Quantum Portfolio Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 1.8% during the first quarter. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC now owns 7,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $606,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $85.98 per share, with a total value of $4,882,116.36. Following the purchase, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,024,603,103.84. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 10,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $896,104.98. This trade represents a 11.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 24,551 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,990 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on NDAQ shares. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $106.92.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ traded up $0.56 on Friday, hitting $88.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,620,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,808,497. The company has a market capitalization of $49.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $76.55 and a 12 month high of $101.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $87.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.01.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

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

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.