Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,105,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 29,675 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.36% of Nasdaq worth $122,408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NDAQ. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 214.0% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,224,000 after buying an additional 4,280,846 shares during the period. LGT Capital Partners LTD. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 136.5% in the fourth quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 1,264,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,547,000 after purchasing an additional 730,200 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 16.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,787,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $232,564,000 after purchasing an additional 681,238 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its position in Nasdaq by 230.9% in the third quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 795,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,675,000 after purchasing an additional 555,412 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 34.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,070,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,603,000 after purchasing an additional 533,086 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $61.09 on Wednesday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.88 and a 1-year high of $64.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $35.14 billion, a PE ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.32.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 41.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Edward Jones assumed coverage on Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.09.

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.