Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on NDAQ. Barclays upped their price target on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.87.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $83.05 on Wednesday. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $53.62 and a 12-month high of $83.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $47.73 billion, a PE ratio of 49.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.47 and a 200 day moving average of $68.46.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 57.49%.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total transaction of $935,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,928,073.60. This trade represents a 9.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total value of $454,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 215,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,320,274.73. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the first quarter worth $352,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 12.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 517,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,624,000 after purchasing an additional 57,900 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 108.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 124,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,863,000 after purchasing an additional 64,886 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 0.5% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 527,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,290,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 24.5% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 47,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,982,000 after acquiring an additional 9,290 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.