Swedbank AB Trims Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Swedbank AB lowered its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 6.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 79,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,686 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $6,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Nasdaq by 3.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 14,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 34,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,652,000 after buying an additional 10,110 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 14,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,089,000 after buying an additional 2,584 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 345.5% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 11,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total value of $700,222.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 141,035 shares in the company, valued at $12,808,798.70. The trade was a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total value of $1,408,258.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,530,126. The trade was a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,551 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,990. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.6%

NDAQ stock traded up $0.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $88.08. 2,620,120 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,808,497. The stock has a market cap of $49.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.55 and a 1 year high of $101.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $87.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.01.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the topic of several research reports. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.92.

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.