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

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

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on NDAQ. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.88.

Nasdaq Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Nasdaq stock traded up $1.28 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $76.58. The stock had a trading volume of 2,248,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,758,593. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.38. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $58.10 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 firm has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total value of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,398,253.92. This represents a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $285,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,778.56. This trade represents a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Founders Capital Management acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 106.6% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.