Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 325.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,490 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $1,869,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 163.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,835,235,000 after purchasing an additional 24,084,154 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 11.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,653,000 after buying an additional 1,811,616 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 9.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,181,000 after buying an additional 932,665 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P grew its stake in Nasdaq by 14.6% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,596,000 after buying an additional 1,096,090 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 13,532.3% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,040,000 after acquiring an additional 3,970,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total transaction of $1,027,515.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total transaction of $454,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,320,274.73. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on NDAQ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Nasdaq from $97.00 to $96.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.73.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $78.83 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.90 and a 12-month high of $83.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.98.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.8 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 57.49%.

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.