National Bank of Canada FI Reduces Stock Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) by 18.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,660 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 21,063 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Nasdaq were worth $5,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 79,454 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,861,000 after purchasing an additional 10,125 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in Nasdaq in the third quarter worth approximately $276,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 243,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,839,000 after acquiring an additional 50,880 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 53,838 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,455 shares during the period. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NDAQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Nasdaq from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nasdaq from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,010,436 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,647,360 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.66. 1,761,826 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,238,645. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $34.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.94. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $64.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.22.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The business's revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Nasdaq's dividend payout ratio is presently 46.32%.

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.