Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 8,951 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 589,035 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,951 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.10% of Nasdaq worth $45,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Founders Capital Management purchased a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 106.6% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley cut Nasdaq from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $74.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Nasdaq from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Nasdaq from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. This represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total value of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at $4,398,253.92. This trade represents a 20.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,116 shares of company stock worth $1,434,818 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Up 2.7 %

NDAQ stock traded up $2.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $78.18. 2,353,097 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,795,414. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.28 and a twelve month high of $84.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.55. The company has a market capitalization of $44.88 billion, a PE ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.00.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Nasdaq's quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Nasdaq's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.09%.

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.