State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Acquires 12,336 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 9.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 147,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,336 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $13,052,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Front Row Advisors LLC bought a new position in Nasdaq during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the second quarter worth $27,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $79.47 on Tuesday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.84 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company’s 50 day moving average is $94.65 and its 200 day moving average is $92.05. The company has a market cap of $45.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 21.77% and a return on equity of 16.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.95%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total value of $28,917,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,924,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $185,541,400.17. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total value of $450,045.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 125,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,568,656.74. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 604,500 shares of company stock worth $58,440,045. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on NDAQ. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up from $114.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on Nasdaq and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.13.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.