World Equity Group Inc. Purchases New Shares in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

World Equity Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,099,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Creative Planning raised its position in Nasdaq by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 54,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,010,000 after purchasing an additional 3,475 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Nasdaq by 96.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Nasdaq by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 20,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,171 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Nasdaq by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Nasdaq by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NDAQ. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.88.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $285,460.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,576 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,778.56. This 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. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $81.07 on Friday. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.51 and a 12-month high of $84.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $79.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.49. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. Equities analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Nasdaq 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.