Ascent Group LLC Purchases 12,246 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,246 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $4,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,979,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,019,037,000 after purchasing an additional 403,248 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,550,115,000 after purchasing an additional 993,553 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 1.2% during the first quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,693,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $659,487,000 after purchasing an additional 101,983 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 9.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,785,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $438,854,000 after purchasing an additional 484,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 40.8% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,494,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $416,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,592,057 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on NDAQ. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $95.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.31.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.49, for a total transaction of $201,006.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 92,551 shares in the company, valued at $8,837,694.99. The trade was a 2.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 8,691 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 8,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,742.55. This represents a 49.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NDAQ opened at $87.61 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.84 and a 52-week high of $97.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $93.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.45. The firm has a market cap of $50.27 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.07. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 18.59%.The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 41.54%.

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.