Candriam S.C.A. Purchases 6,738 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 59,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,738 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $4,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake 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 buying an additional 24,084,154 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 13,532.3% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,040,000 after buying an additional 3,970,658 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 buying an additional 1,811,616 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $110,867,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $105,481,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ stock opened at $74.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.89, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.96 and a 12-month high of $84.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.22.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 owns 55,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. This 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 this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NDAQ. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. William Blair began coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.88.

Nasdaq 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.