Johnson Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $798,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Nasdaq by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,855,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,329,000 after purchasing an additional 45,783 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,933,000 after buying an additional 13,160 shares during the last quarter. MKP Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,996,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,245,000. Finally, Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth about $4,872,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NDAQ shares. Zacks Research raised Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $113.00 target price (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $111.00 price objective (up from $108.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.30.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $96.35 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $53.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.55 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 18.38% and a net margin of 22.60%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,024,603,103.84. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 11,010 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.35, for a total transaction of $1,060,813.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 205,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,751,846.35. This trade represents a 5.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 41,797 shares of company stock valued at $3,926,319 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Profile

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.