Howard Capital Management Inc. Invests $267,000 in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Nasdaq by 1.5% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 52,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,962,000 after acquiring an additional 771 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Nasdaq by 7.7% in the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 55,959 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,245,000 after acquiring an additional 4,004 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in Nasdaq by 21.3% in the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 13,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 2,290 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Nasdaq by 192.2% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 177,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,442,000 after acquiring an additional 116,545 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Nasdaq by 1.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,268,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,098,000 after acquiring an additional 27,622 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $85.66 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.84 and a twelve month high of $97.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $90.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.52. The company has a market cap of $48.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.98.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.06. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 19.90%.The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 38.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.56.

Nasdaq Company 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.