California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 29,675 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,105,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 29,675 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $122,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 48.7% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 428,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,828,000 after buying an additional 140,286 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 10.9% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 446,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,715,000 after buying an additional 43,910 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 53,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,455 shares during the last quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 365,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,250,000 after buying an additional 83,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,326,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,396,000 after buying an additional 40,215 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. Edward Jones initiated coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were 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 $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $61.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $35.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $64.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.32.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.71%.

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.