Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $8.79 Million in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 113,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,791,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 163.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,835,235,000 after acquiring an additional 24,084,154 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811,616 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 9.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,181,000 after purchasing an additional 932,665 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 14.6% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 13,532.3% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $292,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,658 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value of $285,460.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. This trade represents a 5.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Up 1.5 %

NDAQ stock opened at $73.26 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.14 billion, a PE ratio of 38.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.96 and a 12 month high of $84.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. Equities analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

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.