Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Cuts Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. decreased its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $274,000. USA Financial Formulas raised its position in Nasdaq by 61.1% during the 1st quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 17,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,353,000 after buying an additional 6,764 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 892.3% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 60,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,689,000 after purchasing an additional 54,535 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $48,749,000. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 3,998,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,087,000 after purchasing an additional 235,748 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NDAQ. Citigroup cut their price target on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Nasdaq from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $74.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.50.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.1%

NDAQ stock opened at $86.90 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $78.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $49.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.00. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.28 and a 52 week high of $87.50.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 49.09%.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total value of $47,179.17. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,398,253.92. The trade was a 20.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,616 shares of company stock worth $1,813,598. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.