30,960 Shares in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ Purchased by Aurora Investment Counsel

Aurora Investment Counsel acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 30,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,628,000. Nasdaq makes up 1.5% of Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 29.2% during the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 125,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,626,000 after purchasing an additional 6,254 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,641,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,198,000 after purchasing an additional 12,726 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 21,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 29.3% during the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 59,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,065,000 after buying an additional 13,505 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $114.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Loop Capital set a $113.00 target price on Nasdaq in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total transaction of $1,408,258.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 215,208 shares in the company, valued at $19,530,126. This represents a 6.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total value of $700,222.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares in the company, valued at $12,808,798.70. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,551 shares of company stock worth $2,225,990. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $91.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.83 billion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.55 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.75.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 37.35%.

Nasdaq Company Profile

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.