Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $31.16 Million Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 402,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,737 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $31,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Founders Capital Management acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Nasdaq by 106.6% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $285,460.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,778.56. This trade represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,116 shares of company stock valued at $1,434,818. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Nasdaq from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.18.

Nasdaq Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $78.18 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $74.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.58. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 52-week low of $58.28 and a 52-week high of $84.15. The stock has a market cap of $44.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. 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 yield of 1.38%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.09%.

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.