Dark Forest Capital Management LP Cuts Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP lessened its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 36.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,022 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Founders Capital Management purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 106.6% in 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 acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America increased their price target on Nasdaq from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Nasdaq from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $74.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total transaction of $47,179.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,450,783.80. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 20.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,116 shares of company stock worth $1,434,818 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $75.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.28 and a 1 year high of $84.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.41. The firm has a market cap of $43.34 billion, a PE ratio of 39.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.02.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. Equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 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.