Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV Purchases New Position in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 28,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,729,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,275,902,000 after acquiring an additional 3,848,406 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 7.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,619,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,627,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,683,485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,258,964 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the second quarter valued at approximately $110,259,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 129.0% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,159,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $191,013,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216,580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.82, for a total transaction of $117,508.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 10,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $896,104.98. The trade was a 11.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $700,222.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. The trade was a 5.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 231,002 shares of company stock worth $20,295,941. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $88.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.09 and a 12 month high of $101.79. The company has a market cap of $50.28 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.66.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NDAQ shares. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Argus raised shares of Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.15.

About Nasdaq

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.