Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Shares Purchased by abrdn plc

abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 56.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 148,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 53,519 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $8,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 74.9% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at about $65,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NDAQ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays reduced their price objective on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.92.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ stock opened at $60.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $64.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $59.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.46. The company has a market capitalization of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 28.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 41.71%.

Insider Activity

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

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.