Blair William & Co. IL Boosts Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 92.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 532,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 255,259 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $41,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 80,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,185,000 after acquiring an additional 21,000 shares during the period. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 75.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 53,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,170,000 after purchasing an additional 23,244 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 44,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,454,000 after purchasing an additional 9,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Nasdaq by 892.3% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 60,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,689,000 after buying an additional 54,535 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NDAQ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.88.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,398,253.92. This represents a 20.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value 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 approximately $4,532,778.56. This represents a 5.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Down 1.5 %

NDAQ stock opened at $76.36 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $58.10 and a 1-year high of $84.15. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.53. The company has a market capitalization of $43.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.77, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.