Harris Associates L P Acquires 101,983 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Key Points

• Harris Associates L P increased its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, now owning 8,693,469 shares valued at approximately $659 million.
• Nasdaq, Inc. reported earnings of $0.85 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $1.31 billion, a 12.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, yielding 1.1%, with a dividend payout ratio of 41.54%.

Harris Associates L P lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,693,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 101,983 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P owned approximately 1.51% of Nasdaq worth $659,487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,825 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,082 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,282,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,303 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 2,829 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 194.6% in the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 327 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 11,508 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 111,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,867,680.45. This trade represents a 9.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 8,691 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was 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 owned 8,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at $829,742.55. The trade was a 49.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,409 shares of company stock worth $2,223,599. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group raised shares of Nasdaq from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $95.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $97.06.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ NDAQ traded up $0.53 on Thursday, hitting $94.30. 3,693,337 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,248,660. 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 market cap of $54.11 billion, a PE ratio of 36.27, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $92.87 and a 200-day moving average of $83.51. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.84 and a 12 month high of $97.63.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last posted 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 analysts' expectations of $1.26 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, 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. Shareholders 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.