HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 133,224 Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. $NDAQ

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) by 56.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 103,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 133,224 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Nasdaq were worth $8,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NDAQ. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Nasdaq by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 14,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 34,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,652,000 after acquiring an additional 10,110 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 22.0% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 14,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 2,584 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 345.5% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 4.4% in the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 11,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, insider Nelson Griggs sold 11,010 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.35, for a total transaction of $1,060,813.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 205,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,751,846.35. This trade represents a 5.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $1,203,930.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 128,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,881,214.73. This represents a 9.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 41,797 shares of company stock worth $3,926,319 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. Zacks Research raised Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $111.00 price target (up from $108.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, July 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $110.30.

Nasdaq Stock Down 2.3%

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $92.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.40. Nasdaq, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.55 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The stock has a market cap of $51.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.09. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 18.38% and a net margin of 22.60%.The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.15%.

More Nasdaq News

Here are the key news stories impacting Nasdaq this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Nasdaq Ventures agreed to invest $100 million in Payward, Kraken’s parent company, and plans to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens for potential launch in 2027. The partnership could position Nasdaq to participate in 24/7 tokenized-equity trading and expand its digital-market infrastructure business. Nasdaq Deepens Relationship With Payward
• Positive Sentiment: The Payward agreement also includes a market-surveillance partnership, creating an opportunity for Nasdaq to generate recurring technology and compliance revenue across crypto, equities, derivatives, and tokenized assets. Nasdaq Invests in Kraken Parent
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest in NDAQ fell 34.2% to about 6.1 million shares as of August 31, equal to only 1.1% of shares outstanding and 2.3 days of average trading volume. The reduction suggests less bearish positioning and may provide a supportive technical signal.
• Positive Sentiment: Nasdaq’s global asset-manager survey identified private markets as the leading area of client demand, while 80% of firms reported using AI in product development. This supports potential growth for Nasdaq’s indexes, data, analytics, and eVestment businesses. Private Markets and AI Survey
• Neutral Sentiment: The survey also showed that demand is difficult to convert into scaled products: 71% of asset managers cited increasing competition, and only 26% use AI across multiple development stages. These findings highlight opportunity for Nasdaq but also execution challenges.
• Negative Sentiment: The tokenization opportunity remains several years away, with the targeted 2027 rollout dependent on regulatory approval, technology execution, and sufficient trading-volume adoption. Nasdaq’s $100 million investment may therefore weigh on near-term returns before producing material revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider activity has been predominantly selling, including sales by CEO Adena Friedman and other executives, which may contribute to investor caution.

Nasdaq Profile

Nasdaq, Inc (NASDAQ:NDAQ) operates financial markets and provides technology, data and analytics services to exchanges, brokers, institutional investors, corporations and other financial institutions. The company is best known for operating the Nasdaq Stock Market, a major U.S. equities exchange and a prominent venue for technology and growth companies.

Nasdaq’s businesses include listings, trading, market data, indexes, clearing and market infrastructure solutions. Through its technology platforms, the company provides exchange operators and financial institutions with systems for trading, surveillance, risk management, regulatory compliance and other market functions.