New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 472,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,200 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.08% of Nasdaq worth $36,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 6.8% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 54,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,010,000 after purchasing an additional 3,475 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 96.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 12.0% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 20,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,171 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 3.4% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 50,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 2.5% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Nasdaq from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.88.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value of $285,460.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,778.56. This represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $82.54 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.11 and a fifty-two week high of $84.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.99, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.30.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 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.