Cetera Investment Advisers Raises Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 27,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,844 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Nasdaq were worth $2,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 106.6% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $81.90 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.00 and a 200 day moving average of $77.96. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.28 and a 52 week high of $84.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.00.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NDAQ shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group restated a “cautious” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.50.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at $4,398,253.92. This represents a 20.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total transaction of $47,179.17. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,450,783.80. This represents a 1.05% 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 company insiders.

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.