Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,773,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,155,790. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $64.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $34.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.39.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.92.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.