Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Shares Acquired by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 168,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,504 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $13,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Founders Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 106.6% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on NDAQ shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.88.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total value of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,398,253.92. This represents a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $285,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,778.56. This represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $75.55 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.10 and a 1-year high of $84.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $43.45 billion, a PE ratio of 39.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.44.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

About Nasdaq

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.