Bessemer Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,641,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,726 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of Nasdaq worth $224,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at $530,100,000. Morgan Stanley increased 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 valued at $900,061,000 after acquiring an additional 3,567,843 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $589,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736,322 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 46.0% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Nasdaq by 7.7% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NDAQ has been the subject of several research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Nasdaq from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.42.

Nasdaq Stock Up 3.2%

NDAQ opened at $94.25 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $76.55 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $87.27 and its 200 day moving average is $88.73. The stock has a market cap of $53.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.99.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during 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%.Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 37.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total value of $700,222.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares in the company, valued at $12,808,798.70. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total transaction of $1,408,258.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,530,126. This trade represents a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 24,551 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,990 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Company 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.