Howard Capital Management Inc. Makes New $208,000 Investment in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Howard Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 12.0% in the third 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. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Nasdaq by 7.9% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $793,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Nasdaq by 388,765.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 373,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,255,000 after acquiring an additional 373,215 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management increased its stake in Nasdaq by 6.1% in the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Nasdaq by 8.4% during the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 23,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,701,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has an average 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 Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value of $285,460.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,778.56. This trade represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $79.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.43, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.99. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.51 and a 1-year high of $84.15. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $79.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.72. 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 data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 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.