434,722 Shares in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Bought by Mediolanum International Funds Ltd

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 434,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $36,308,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new position in Nasdaq during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,628,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 29.2% in the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 125,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,626,000 after purchasing an additional 6,254 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,641,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,198,000 after purchasing an additional 12,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 21,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,868,000 after buying an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Down 2.8%

NDAQ stock opened at $91.64 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $76.55 and a one year high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 37.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $113.00 price objective (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $107.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,551 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,990. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.