First Horizon Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 83,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,806 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $4,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in Nasdaq in the third quarter worth $26,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 74.9% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 158.5% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ traded up $0.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.87. The company had a trading volume of 2,889,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,187,653. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.88 and a 12 month high of $64.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.75.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,010,436 shares of company stock worth $1,798,647,360. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Edward Jones initiated coverage on Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.92.

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.