Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Invests $72,000 in Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $72,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Grove Bank & Trust grew its position in Nasdaq by 194.6% in the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its position in Nasdaq by 72.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Nasdaq by 1,509.5% in the 1st quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $88.90 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $92.68 and a 200-day moving average of $85.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.98. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.84 and a 12 month high of $97.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.07. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 18.59%.The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 8,691 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.45, for a total transaction of $812,173.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,742.55. This represents a 49.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,105 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.49, for a total value of $201,006.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 92,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,837,694.99. This represents a 2.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $101.00 target price (up from $96.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.25.

About Nasdaq

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.