New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 373,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 32,247 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Nasdaq worth $21,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Nasdaq by 214.0% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 4,280,846 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Nasdaq by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,787,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,564,000 after purchasing an additional 681,238 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Nasdaq by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,363,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,452,000 after purchasing an additional 171,959 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Nasdaq by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,654,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,967,000 after buying an additional 378,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in Nasdaq by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,497,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $121,352,000 after buying an additional 189,379 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on NDAQ shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $60.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.93. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $64.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.71 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.32%.

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.