Baird Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 2.1% during the first quarter, acquiring 3,504 additional shares and totaling 167,862 shares valued at approximately $12.73 million.
• Nasdaq reported a 12.7% year-over-year revenue increase in its latest earnings, with earnings per share of $0.85, beating estimates by $0.07.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.2%, payable on September 26.

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,862 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,504 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $12,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 1st quarter worth approximately $241,614,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,494,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $416,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,057 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 7,367.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,129,328 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $85,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,205 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Nasdaq by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 20,433,885 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,550,115,000 after buying an additional 993,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in Nasdaq by 104.5% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,655,341 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $125,574,000 after buying an additional 845,725 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 11,508 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.87, for a total value of $1,022,715.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 111,035 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,867,680.45. This represents a 9.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.49, for a total transaction of $201,006.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 92,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,837,694.99. The trade was a 2.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,409 shares of company stock valued at $2,223,599 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $101.00 price target (up from $96.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $95.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $97.06.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $93.48. 3,771,371 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,386,171. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.64 billion, a PE ratio of 35.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.02. The business's 50 day moving average is $93.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $64.84 and a one year high of $97.63.

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

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Nasdaq's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.54%.

Nasdaq Company 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.