Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Invests $60.10 Million in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 823,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $60,099,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.14% of Nasdaq as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 94.8% during the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Claro Advisors LLC bought a new position in Nasdaq during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total transaction of $950,906.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at $8,072,268.75. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total value of $1,027,515.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Raymond James raised Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.53.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $80.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.19. The stock has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.97. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.54 and a twelve month high of $83.77.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS 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 period last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 57.49%.

Nasdaq Company Profile

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.