Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on NDAQ. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James raised Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.53.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $80.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.98, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $77.59 and its 200 day moving average is $70.26. Nasdaq has a 1 year low of $54.54 and a 1 year high of $83.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total value of $444,086.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 205,821 shares in the company, valued at $15,918,196.14. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total value of $1,027,515.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,955.60. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 163.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,835,235,000 after purchasing an additional 24,084,154 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 13,532.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,658 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811,616 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $627,596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,181,000 after acquiring an additional 932,665 shares during 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.