Insider Buying: Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Major Shareholder Buys 56,782 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Nasdaq major shareholder Ab Investor bought 56,782 shares on June 11 at an average price of $85.98, a transaction worth about $4.88 million. After the purchase, the insider's holdings rose to 58.44 million shares.
• Nasdaq stock was trading higher, rising 2.3% to $91.04, while the company remains near its recent range with a 52-week high of $101.79 and low of $77.09.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations and raised its dividend, reporting EPS of $0.96 versus $0.93 expected and increasing its quarterly dividend to $0.31 per share from $0.27.

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $85.98 per share, with a total value of $4,882,116.36. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 58,439,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,024,603,103.84. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company's shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Nasdaq Stock Up 2.3%

Nasdaq stock traded up $2.06 during trading on Monday, hitting $91.04. 3,288,115 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,873,004. The business's 50 day moving average is $88.88 and its 200 day moving average is $90.11. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.09 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The company has a market capitalization of $51.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Nasdaq's revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. This is an increase from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Nasdaq from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price objective on Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.36.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $530,100,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,275,902,000 after acquiring an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 62.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $900,061,000 after acquiring an additional 3,567,843 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 82.0% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $589,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736,322 shares during the period. Finally, Harris Associates L P grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,621,689 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $837,425,000 after acquiring an additional 2,716,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company's stock.

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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