Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 437 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 13,532.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $292,040,000 after acquiring an additional 3,970,658 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 11.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,310,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,616 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,867,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total value of $950,906.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at $8,072,268.75. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value of $285,460.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. The trade was a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NDAQ shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James upped their target price on Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.88.

Nasdaq Trading Up 1.4 %

Nasdaq stock opened at $82.86 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $79.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.18. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.90 and a 52-week high of $83.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.16, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. Sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

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.