HighTower Advisors LLC Has $29.84 Million Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 307,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 43,261 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $29,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 345.5% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $91.01 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.09 and a 52-week high of $101.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $87.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.86. The stock has a market cap of $51.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.41, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total value of $9,706,923.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,965,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,953,765.44. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total value of $1,408,258.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 215,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,530,126. This trade represents a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 231,002 shares of company stock valued at $20,295,941 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Company 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.