Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 383,354 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 2,143.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 401,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 383,354 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $29,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 94.8% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 164.4% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.1 %

NDAQ opened at $82.99 on Monday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.62 and a 1-year high of $83.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.70 billion, a PE ratio of 49.69, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on NDAQ shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James raised Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.87.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total transaction of $950,906.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total transaction of $1,027,515.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808 over the last 90 days. 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.