Vanguard Group Inc. Has $4.06 Billion Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 52,576,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 376,893 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Nasdaq worth $4,064,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 163.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,835,235,000 after buying an additional 24,084,154 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,310,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811,616 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at about $110,867,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at about $105,481,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P grew its stake in Nasdaq by 14.6% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total value of $1,102,179.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at $4,398,253.92. The trade was a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $285,460.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. The trade was a 5.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $77.41 on Tuesday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.10 and a 52 week high of $84.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $79.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $44.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. On average, equities analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.88.

Nasdaq 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.