National Pension Service Reduces Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

National Pension Service lowered its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 567,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,608 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $43,843,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Founders Capital Management purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 106.6% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.88.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $80.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $46.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $79.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.77. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.51 and a 52-week high of $84.15.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. This represents a 5.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.