Metis Global Partners LLC Trims Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Metis Global Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,681 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $1,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 214.0% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,224,000 after buying an additional 4,280,846 shares during the period. LGT Capital Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 136.5% during the fourth quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 1,264,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,547,000 after buying an additional 730,200 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 16.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,787,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $232,564,000 after purchasing an additional 681,238 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 230.9% in the third quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 795,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,675,000 after purchasing an additional 555,412 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 34.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,070,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,603,000 after purchasing an additional 533,086 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Nasdaq from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $64.00 in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.92.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,010,436 shares of company stock worth $1,798,647,360 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $59.91 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $34.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.07. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $64.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 50.53%.

Nasdaq Company 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.