American Century Companies Inc. Increases Holdings in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 61.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,376,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 902,150 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $183,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Founders Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 106.6% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value of $285,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,778.56. This trade represents a 5.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total value of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,398,253.92. The trade was a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $75.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.10 and a 12-month high of $84.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.