Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Sells 4,686 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lowered its stake in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 59,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,686 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $4,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,835,235,000 after acquiring an additional 24,084,154 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at $424,285,000. State Street Corp grew its position 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 valued at $1,310,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,616 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth $110,867,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth $105,481,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on 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 raised Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target 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, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.88.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ opened at $74.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.63. The firm has a market cap of $43.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.10 and a 1 year high of $84.15.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.00%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total transaction of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,398,253.92. This represents a 20.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of Nasdaq 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 owns 55,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. This represents a 5.92 % 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 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.