Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,531 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 21,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,531 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $1,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 163.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,835,235,000 after purchasing an additional 24,084,154 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 11.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,310,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,616 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 9.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $783,181,000 after purchasing an additional 932,665 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,723,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,360,000 after purchasing an additional 330,389 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $285,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,778.56. This trade represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total transaction of $1,102,179.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,398,253.92. This represents a 20.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.88.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $75.55 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.10 and a fifty-two week high of $84.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $79.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.40.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

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.