Forsta AP Fonden Buys 5,500 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 100,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $9,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Nasdaq by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,855,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $277,329,000 after buying an additional 45,783 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Nasdaq by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,933,000 after buying an additional 13,160 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Nasdaq by 41.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 77,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,819,000 after buying an additional 22,685 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,245,000. Finally, Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,872,000. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $92.52 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.97. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.09 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $88.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 32.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of Nasdaq 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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. The trade was a 5.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of Nasdaq 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 owned 1,965,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,953,765.44. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 231,002 shares of company stock worth $20,295,941 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Argus raised Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $113.00 price target on Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.15.

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.