Wealthfront Advisers LLC Buys 7,873 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 20.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 46,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,873 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $4,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 200,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,316 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,933,000 after purchasing an additional 13,160 shares during the period. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 171,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,640,000 after purchasing an additional 7,455 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at about $358,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 152.0% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,307,000 after purchasing an additional 14,330 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $700,222.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.91, for a total value of $29,073,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,924,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,542,349.73. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 531,002 shares of company stock valued at $49,368,941 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on Nasdaq and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.15.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $91.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $51.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $86.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.65. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.54 and a twelve month high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Nasdaq Profile

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.