Advisors Preferred LLC Invests $4.87 Million in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Key Points

• Advisors Preferred LLC acquired 50,407 shares of Nasdaq, Inc. in Q4, a new stake valued at about $4.87 million per its 13F filing.
• Company insiders, including CEO Adena T. Friedman, have been selling shares recently — Friedman sold 113,611 shares (~$9.71M) and insiders disposed of a total of 231,002 shares (~$20.3M) over the last three months.
• Nasdaq beat expectations with $0.96 EPS vs. $0.93 consensus and $2.14B revenue (up 13.7% y/y), and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.31 (from $0.27), implying a 1.4% yield.

Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 50,407 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,872,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,916,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,819,727,000 after acquiring an additional 268,481 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Nasdaq by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,627,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,683,485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,258,964 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Nasdaq by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,735,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,348 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,044,521 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $446,188,000 after acquiring an additional 532,775 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Nasdaq by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,198,608 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $371,367,000 after acquiring an additional 116,542 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total transaction of $9,706,923.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,965,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $167,953,765.44. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total value of $1,408,258.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,530,126. The trade was a 6.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 231,002 shares of company stock worth $20,295,941 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ opened at $91.32 on Monday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.86 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $51.65 billion, a PE ratio of 27.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.98. The business's 50-day moving average price is $86.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.65.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Nasdaq's revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq's payout ratio is presently 32.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on Nasdaq and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price target on Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Nasdaq from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $120.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.15.

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.

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