Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 11th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

Nasdaq has raised its dividend by an average of 10.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Nasdaq has a payout ratio of 26.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Nasdaq to earn $3.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.6%.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $72.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $41.58 billion, a PE ratio of 37.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $57.96 and a 12-month high of $84.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.30.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on NDAQ shares. William Blair started coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.88.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value of $285,460.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. This represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.70% 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.