William Blair Initiates Coverage on Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

William Blair began coverage on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock. William Blair also issued estimates for Nasdaq’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.72 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $2.78 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $3.10 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.50 EPS.

NDAQ has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays increased 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.87.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ opened at $83.05 on Monday. Nasdaq has a fifty-two week low of $53.62 and a fifty-two week high of $83.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.47 and a 200 day moving average of $68.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $47.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.89, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total value of $950,906.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total value of $444,086.28. Following the sale, the insider now owns 205,821 shares in the company, valued at $15,918,196.14. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 94.8% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the second quarter worth $26,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 164.4% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Company 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.