Axa S.A. Acquires 1,373 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Axa S.A. raised its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 82,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,373 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $6,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allegheny Financial Group acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,935,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,365,000. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 84,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,504,000 after acquiring an additional 6,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total value of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,398,253.92. The trade was a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total value of $47,179.17. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,980 shares in the company, valued at $4,450,783.80. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $78.08 on Wednesday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.28 and a 12-month high of $84.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $74.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $44.83 billion, a PE ratio of 40.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.00.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Nasdaq from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $74.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.18.

Nasdaq Profile

Nasdaq, Inc operates as a technology company that serves capital markets and other industries worldwide. It operates in three segments: Capital Access Platforms, Financial Technology, and Market Services. The Capital Access Platforms segment sells and distributes historical and real-time market data; and develops and licenses Nasdaq-branded indices and financial products.