Peterson Financial Group Inc. Takes $42,000 Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,239,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,043,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,173,981 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 28.4% during the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,436,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $532,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,219 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 2.0% during the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,767,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $287,270,000 after purchasing an additional 94,122 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 13,532.3% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $292,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 26.5% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,878,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $181,609,000 after purchasing an additional 602,040 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $78.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.16, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.40. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.36 and a 12 month high of $80.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $444,086.28. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 205,821 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,918,196.14. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total value of $935,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 114,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,928,073.60. The trade was a 9.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 37,384 shares of company stock worth $2,860,902. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NDAQ. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.87.

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.