Principle Wealth Partners LLC Takes $540,000 Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Principle Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $540,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth $530,100,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 62.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3,567,843 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 82.0% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $589,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,736,322 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,716,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the second quarter valued at about $165,852,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, July 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.30.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, major shareholder Ab Investor bought 56,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,024,603,103.84. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 11,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.35, for a total transaction of $1,060,813.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 205,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,751,846.35. The trade was a 5.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,797 shares of company stock valued at $3,926,319. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NDAQ opened at $96.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $54.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.55 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.09. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 18.38% and a net margin of 22.60%.The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 36.15%.

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.