Strs Ohio Cuts Stock Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Key Points

• Strs Ohio reduced its Nasdaq stake by 8.2% in the first quarter, selling 58,416 shares and leaving it with 651,531 shares worth about $55.3 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive, with analysts maintaining a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $107.54, though TD Cowen recently trimmed its target to $98.
• Nasdaq posted solid quarterly results and raised its dividend, beating earnings and revenue estimates for the latest quarter and increasing its quarterly payout to $0.31 from $0.27.

Strs Ohio cut its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) by 8.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 651,531 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 58,416 shares during the period. Strs Ohio owned about 0.11% of Nasdaq worth $55,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 3.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 14,574 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 34,962 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,652,000 after purchasing an additional 10,110 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 14,351 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 345.5% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 597 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in Nasdaq by 4.4% in the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 11,386 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NDAQ. Barclays upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total value of $1,408,258.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,530,126. The trade was a 6.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ab Investor acquired 56,782 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $85.98 per share, with a total value of $4,882,116.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at $5,024,603,103.84. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 24,551 shares of company stock worth $2,225,990 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $84.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.55 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Nasdaq's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.35%.

Nasdaq Company Profile

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world's leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.