Guinness Asset Management LTD Purchases 4,315 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 65.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $840,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Nasdaq by 163.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,835,235,000 after purchasing an additional 24,084,154 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 13,532.3% during the 3rd 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. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,310,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,616 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,596,000 after buying an additional 1,096,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $783,181,000 after buying an additional 932,665 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NDAQ has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.73.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total value of $454,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 215,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,320,274.73. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total value of $935,040.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 114,580 shares in the company, valued at $8,928,073.60. The trade was a 9.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $78.83 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a PE ratio of 47.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.90 and a 1 year high of $83.77.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 57.49%.

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.