Dearborn Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Dearborn Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 410,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,058 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $29,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 1.0% in the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 13,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 5.4% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 0.6% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 32,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,967,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.87.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total value of $1,027,515.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total value of $454,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at $16,320,274.73. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,384 shares of company stock worth $2,860,902 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $78.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.22. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.17 and a 12 month high of $80.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.87 billion, a PE ratio of 46.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.49%.

Nasdaq Profile

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.