Candriam S.C.A. Raises Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,290 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $4,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 7.7% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,274,000 after acquiring an additional 3,096 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 61.1% in the first quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 17,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after acquiring an additional 6,764 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 1.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,268,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,098,000 after acquiring an additional 27,622 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,749,000. Finally, FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the first quarter valued at about $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NDAQ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.06.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ opened at $94.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $54.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.00. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.84 and a 12-month high of $97.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $91.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.80.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 41.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 8,691 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.45, for a total transaction of $812,173.95. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,879 shares in the company, valued at $829,742.55. The trade was a 49.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.49, for a total transaction of $201,006.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 92,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,837,694.99. This represents a 2.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,409 shares of company stock valued at $2,887,839 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.