Legal & General Group Plc Makes New Investment in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,792,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,130,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.50% of Nasdaq as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at approximately $377,818,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 2nd quarter worth about $227,000. Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. L2 Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter valued at $227,000. Finally, Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at about $167,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nasdaq news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 11,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.35, for a total value of $1,060,813.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 205,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,751,846.35. This represents a 5.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $1,203,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 128,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,881,214.73. This represents a 9.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 41,797 shares of company stock worth $3,926,319 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $99.47 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $55.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.22. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $76.55 and a one year high of $101.79.

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

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 36.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, July 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.30.

About Nasdaq

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.