Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $1.50 Billion Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,440,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 884,432 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $1,502,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Founders Capital Management bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 106.6% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NDAQ. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Nasdaq from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

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

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.2 %

NDAQ opened at $76.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.68. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.10 and a fifty-two week high of $84.15. The company has a market cap of $43.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

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.