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

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

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their target price for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Nasdaq from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $66.92.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $60.12 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.46. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $64.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.93.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.32%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the sale, 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 47.8% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 59,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,879,000 after buying an additional 19,165 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 153,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,482,000 after buying an additional 13,899 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 25,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 2,403 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 79,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,861,000 after buying an additional 10,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 44,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,210,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.