Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,062 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $1,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 136.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 301,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,643,000 after acquiring an additional 173,710 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 29.1% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 287,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,947,000 after acquiring an additional 64,700 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $245,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 58.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 319,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,540,000 after purchasing an additional 118,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 23,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on NDAQ shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Edward Jones initiated coverage on Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total transaction of $181,826.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,511,710.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.05. 130,262 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,859,107. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.88 and a 1-year high of $64.25. The firm has a market cap of $34.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.53%.

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.