Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Shares Bought by Magnetar Financial LLC

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC increased its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. by 8.0% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 3,025 shares and valuing its total holdings at $3,085,000.
• Brokerages have raised their price targets for Nasdaq, with Barclays setting a new target of $109.00 and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifting theirs to $104.00, indicating strong analyst confidence in the stock.
• Nasdaq reported strong quarterly earnings with an EPS of $0.85, exceeding expectations, along with a declared quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, effective September 26th.

Magnetar Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,665 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,025 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC's holdings in Nasdaq were worth $3,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 1st quarter worth about $241,614,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,005,047 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $464,676,000 after buying an additional 1,650,201 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 40.8% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,494,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $416,795,000 after buying an additional 1,592,057 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 7,367.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,129,328 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $85,671,000 after buying an additional 1,114,205 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 5.1% in the first 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 during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler lifted 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, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $101.00 price objective (up previously from $96.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.06.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.1%

NDAQ traded up $0.06 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $93.65. The company had a trading volume of 870,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,239,664. The company has a market cap of $53.73 billion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $92.75 and a 200-day moving average of $83.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.84 and a 1-year high of $97.63.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for 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 firm's revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $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 Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.49, for a total transaction of $201,006.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 11,508 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.87, for a total transaction of $1,022,715.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 111,035 shares in the company, valued at $9,867,680.45. This trade represents a 9.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,409 shares of company stock valued at $2,223,599. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.