1,408 Shares in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Purchased by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $82,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Nasdaq by 214.0% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,280,846 shares during the last quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. increased its stake in Nasdaq by 136.5% during the fourth quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 1,264,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,547,000 after acquiring an additional 730,200 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Nasdaq by 16.6% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,787,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $232,564,000 after acquiring an additional 681,238 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Nasdaq by 34.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,070,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,603,000 after acquiring an additional 533,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Nasdaq by 24.4% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,286,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,745,000 after acquiring an additional 447,834 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Nasdaq from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the firm’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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,010,436 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,647,360 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $62.45 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.92. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.88 and a fifty-two week high of $64.25. The firm has a market cap of $35.92 billion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.94.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results 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). Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.32%.

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.