The National Association of Securities Dealers announced on Thursday that it has fully divested itself of ownership in Nasdaq common stock.

It sold its remaining 255,285 shares on July 11. The transaction was the last in a series of transactions that began in 2001 to end the NASD’s ownership of Nasdaq, and allow the NASD to operate as an independent regulatory organization.

Final legal separation of the two organizations will be complete when Nasdaq becomes a fully operational national securities exchange, as approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in January. Nasdaq is in the final stages of becoming a fully operational exchange.

“While Nasdaq and NASD have functioned separately for several years, we are pleased that the last vestiges of financial ownership are now gone, and the last remaining legal ties will be dissolved very soon,” said NASD chairman and CEO Robert Glauber, who initiated NASD’s divestiture of Nasdaq and the American Stock Exchange, which was completed in December 2004.

This final sale was of shares underlying warrants that expired unexercised last month.