Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $107.3571.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, insider Cohen Tal sold 15,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.75, for a total value of $1,408,258.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 215,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,530,126. This represents a 6.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total transaction of $9,706,923.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,965,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,953,765.44. This trade represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 138,162 shares of company stock valued at $11,932,913. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $530,100,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,275,902,000 after buying an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 62.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,061,000 after buying an additional 3,567,843 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 82.0% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $589,897,000 after buying an additional 2,736,322 shares during the period. Finally, Harris Associates L P increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 46.0% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,621,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $837,425,000 after buying an additional 2,716,280 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $88.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $50.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.10. Nasdaq has a one year low of $77.09 and a one year high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Research analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Nasdaq Company Profile

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.