Raiffeisen Bank International AG Purchases New Shares in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,447 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,576,413 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,064,682,000 after purchasing an additional 376,893 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,018,705 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $849,783,000 after acquiring an additional 257,465 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,379,012 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $802,401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,672 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Nasdaq by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,954,334 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $537,640,000 after acquiring an additional 335,565 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 37.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,650,201 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Nasdaq from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $91.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Nasdaq from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $74.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.50.

Nasdaq Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Nasdaq stock traded down $1.19 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $80.64. 3,336,923 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,913,894. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.30 billion, a PE ratio of 42.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.00. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.28 and a 1-year high of $84.15. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. The business's revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This is a boost from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Nasdaq's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total transaction of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at $4,398,253.92. This trade represents a 20.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total transaction of $47,179.17. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,980 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,450,783.80. The trade was a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

About Nasdaq

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.