Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Acquires Shares of 6,381 Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co has acquired 6,381 shares of Nasdaq, Inc. valued at approximately $484,000 during the first quarter of the year.
• Brokerages have raised their target prices for Nasdaq stock, with Piper Sandler increasing it from $97.00 to $104.00, indicating an overall positive outlook with 14 analysts rating it as a "Buy."
• Nasdaq recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, representing a yield of 1.1%, with shareholders of record set to receive this on September 26th.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,381 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $484,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the first quarter valued at approximately $241,614,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 40.8% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,494,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $416,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,057 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Nasdaq by 7,367.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,114,205 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Nasdaq by 5.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 993,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in Nasdaq by 104.5% during the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,655,341 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $125,574,000 after purchasing an additional 845,725 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ traded down $1.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $93.95. The stock had a trading volume of 2,947,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,461,785. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.84 and a 1 year high of $97.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $93.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.21. The firm has a market cap of $53.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.02.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Nasdaq's payout ratio is presently 41.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NDAQ shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $95.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $101.00 price objective (up from $96.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $97.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 8,691 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.45, for a total value of $812,173.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 11,508 shares of Nasdaq 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 111,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,867,680.45. The trade was a 9.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,409 shares of company stock valued at $2,223,599 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.