Advisors Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 776 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Founders Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 106.6% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Nasdaq from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total transaction of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,398,253.92. This represents a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total transaction of $47,179.17. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,980 shares in the company, valued at $4,450,783.80. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,116 shares of company stock worth $1,434,818 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $73.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.02. 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 $58.10 and a twelve month high of $84.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.43.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. On average, analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.