Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases 2,432 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 40.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,432 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its position in Nasdaq by 6.0% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 80,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,862,000 after buying an additional 4,582 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,219,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the 2nd quarter valued at about $231,000. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in Nasdaq by 365.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 143,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,650,000 after buying an additional 112,700 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Nasdaq by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,358,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,144,000 after acquiring an additional 174,778 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Seller Lp Argus sold 42,804,207 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total value of $2,764,295,688.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,804,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,764,295,688.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.8 %

Nasdaq stock opened at $72.70 on Wednesday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $74.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $41.82 billion, a PE ratio of 38.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.17.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 15.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Nasdaq from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Nasdaq from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America raised Nasdaq from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.08.

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.