Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.00.

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Edward Jones initiated coverage on Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,010,436 shares of company stock worth $1,798,647,360 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 38.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 36,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after buying an additional 10,243 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,070,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,603,000 after buying an additional 533,086 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter worth $531,000. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter worth $1,730,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $58.99 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $64.25. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.72. The firm has a market cap of $33.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.94.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 50.53%.

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.