World Investment Advisors Sells 18,875 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Key Points

• World Investment Advisors cut its Nasdaq stake by 61.6% in Q1, selling 18,875 shares and leaving it with 11,763 shares valued at about $999,000.
• Nasdaq reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue, with EPS of $0.96 versus $0.93 expected and revenue of $2.14 billion, up 13.7% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.31 per share, and analysts currently have a consensus Buy rating with an average target price of $107.54.

World Investment Advisors reduced its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) by 61.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,763 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 18,875 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Nasdaq were worth $999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,529 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,574 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Orgel Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 8,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $831,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, major shareholder Ab Investor bought 56,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,024,603,103.84. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total value of $700,222.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. The trade was a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,551 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,990. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on NDAQ shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price target on Nasdaq in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Nasdaq from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $107.54.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $84.39 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $47.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.07. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.55 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. Nasdaq's revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is a positive change from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq's payout ratio is presently 37.35%.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world's leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.

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