Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Cuts Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA trimmed its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 53.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 447,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 514,909 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $37,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,916,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,819,727,000 after acquiring an additional 268,481 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Nasdaq by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,627,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,683,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,964 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Nasdaq by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,878,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,930,808,000 after purchasing an additional 259,408 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,851,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,243,807,000 after purchasing an additional 378,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 62.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $900,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3,567,843 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total transaction of $9,706,923.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,965,751 shares in the company, valued at $167,953,765.44. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total value of $1,408,258.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,530,126. The trade was a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 138,162 shares of company stock worth $11,932,913. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $78.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $44.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.97. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.09 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.65.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 37.35%.

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.