Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Shares Sold by Montag A & Associates Inc.

Montag A & Associates Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 484 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $2,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smithfield Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Nasdaq by 312.0% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 183,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,601,000 after acquiring an additional 139,228 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Nasdaq by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in Nasdaq by 237.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 30,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,000 after acquiring an additional 21,699 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in Nasdaq by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 12,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $62.69. 476,591 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,805,933. The company has a market capitalization of $36.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.88 and a 12 month high of $64.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.33.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NDAQ shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Edward Jones started coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total transaction of $181,826.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,511,710.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

About Nasdaq

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.