California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stake in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,029,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 98,679 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $87,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Ab Investor purchased 56,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $85.98 per share, for a total transaction of $4,882,116.36. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 58,439,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,024,603,103.84. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,551 shares of company stock worth $2,225,990. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $91.64 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $87.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.83 billion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.55 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79.

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

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NDAQ shares. Wall Street Zen raised Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $114.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.42.

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.