Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays increased their price target on Nasdaq from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.53.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $80.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.05 billion, a PE ratio of 47.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $54.54 and a twelve month high of $83.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.19.

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

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 57.49%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808 in the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at about $60,099,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 90,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,618,000 after purchasing an additional 6,704 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 38.6% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 60,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,420,000 after purchasing an additional 16,868 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Nasdaq during the third quarter valued at $1,266,000. Finally, Sfmg LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the third quarter worth $207,000. 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.