Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 101.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,917 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $1,388,000 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 NDAQ. Front Row Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total transaction of $28,917,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,924,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $185,541,400.17. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total transaction of $450,045.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 125,674 shares in the company, valued at $12,568,656.74. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 604,500 shares of company stock worth $58,440,045 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on NDAQ. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 9th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.13.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $79.47 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $94.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.19. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.84 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The stock has a market cap of $45.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 21.77%.The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.95%.

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.