Empowered Funds LLC Increases Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,795 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 12.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 517,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,624,000 after purchasing an additional 57,900 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 1st quarter valued at $2,595,000. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 28,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,736,000 after buying an additional 8,974 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 52.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 30,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,907,000 after acquiring an additional 10,427 shares during the period. Finally, American International Group Inc. increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 102,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,485,000 after acquiring an additional 9,887 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.87.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ opened at $81.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.55, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.09. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.62 and a 12-month high of $81.35.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 57.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total value of $935,040.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,928,073.60. The trade was a 9.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total transaction of $454,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,320,274.73. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808 over the last three months. 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.