Bridgefront Capital LLC Invests $661,000 in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 8,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth about $424,285,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Nasdaq by 37.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,005,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $464,676,000 after buying an additional 1,650,201 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth approximately $110,867,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $105,481,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,379,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $802,401,000 after buying an additional 1,225,672 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on NDAQ shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, April 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total transaction of $47,179.17. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,450,783.80. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $78.19 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $74.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.63. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.28 and a 12-month high of $84.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $44.89 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) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. 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.