Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Issues Earnings Results

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $66.96. 3,627,558 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,822,939. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $67.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.69. The company has a market capitalization of $38.52 billion, a PE ratio of 34.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 50.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total transaction of $181,826.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,636 shares in the company, valued at $3,511,710.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on NDAQ shares. Argus increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Nasdaq from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.25.

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.