Ethic Inc. Grows Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 65.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 85,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,729 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $6,580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings 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 worth $6,185,000 after acquiring an additional 21,000 shares in the last quarter. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth about $274,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Nasdaq by 75.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 53,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,170,000 after purchasing an additional 23,244 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 892.3% in the fourth 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. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 44,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,454,000 after buying an additional 9,130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NDAQ has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total value of $47,179.17. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,450,783.80. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, 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. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $79.20 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.28 and a 1 year high of $84.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $74.36 and a 200-day moving average of $77.70. 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 stock has a market cap of $45.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.25, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.00.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 49.09%.

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.