FourThought Financial Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 917 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $7,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 80,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,185,000 after buying an additional 21,000 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 75.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 53,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,170,000 after buying an additional 23,244 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 44,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,454,000 after purchasing an additional 9,130 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $856,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 49.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 164,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,987,000 after purchasing an additional 54,594 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value of $285,460.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,778.56. This trade represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $79.94 on Tuesday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.51 and a 52 week high of $84.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $45.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.64.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. As a group, research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

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.