Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Raises Stock Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,576,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,064,682,000 after acquiring an additional 376,893 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP increased its stake in Nasdaq by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 7,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,797 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Nasdaq by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 441,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,115,000 after buying an additional 66,968 shares during the period. Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth about $3,006,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,834,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Nasdaq from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.88.

Nasdaq Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $74.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.10 and a 12-month high of $84.15.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. Equities research analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Insider Activity

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

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.