Retirement Systems of Alabama Raises Stock Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 8.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,704 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $6,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial raised its stake in Nasdaq by 1.0% in the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 13,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in Nasdaq by 4.2% during the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems grew its stake in Nasdaq by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 28,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $77.47 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.61. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.90 and a 12-month high of $83.77. The firm has a market cap of $44.53 billion, a PE ratio of 46.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.49%.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total transaction of $950,906.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total value of $1,027,515.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,955.60. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on NDAQ shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.53.

Nasdaq 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.