LGT Capital Partners LTD. Buys 730,200 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 136.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,264,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 730,200 shares during the quarter. Nasdaq accounts for about 2.2% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. LGT Capital Partners LTD. owned about 0.22% of Nasdaq worth $73,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NDAQ. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 214.0% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,280,846 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $235,218,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Nasdaq by 12.2% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,147,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,502,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,276,599 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $68,961,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,153,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,829,000 after acquiring an additional 775,233 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.70.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $63.10 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq, Inc. has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $63.52.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 41.71%.

About Nasdaq

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.