Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 on June 28th

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Nasdaq has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Nasdaq has a payout ratio of 28.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Nasdaq to earn $3.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.6%.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $60.12 on Friday. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $64.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.46. The firm has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on NDAQ. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.92.

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.