Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.87.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $81.14 on Friday. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $53.62 and a 12-month high of $83.77. The stock has a market cap of $46.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.59, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $76.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total transaction of $1,027,515.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total transaction of $950,906.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,072,268.75. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 163.3% during 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 buying an additional 24,084,154 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 13,532.3% during 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 stake in Nasdaq by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,310,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,616 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P boosted its stake in 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 worth $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $783,181,000 after purchasing an additional 932,665 shares during the period. 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.