Avanza Fonder AB Invests $2.46 Million in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 31,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,459,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Nasdaq by 163.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,835,235,000 after purchasing an additional 24,084,154 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Nasdaq by 13,532.3% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,040,000 after buying an additional 3,970,658 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,653,000 after buying an additional 1,811,616 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $627,596,000 after buying an additional 1,096,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $783,181,000 after acquiring an additional 932,665 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on NDAQ. William Blair initiated coverage on Nasdaq in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Argus raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. This trade represents a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $78.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a PE ratio of 47.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.98. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.90 and a fifty-two week high of $83.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.31.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 57.49%.

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.