Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.24 Per Share

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Nasdaq has increased its dividend by an average of 10.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Nasdaq has a payout ratio of 28.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Nasdaq to earn $3.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.6%.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $60.12 on Friday. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $46.88 and a twelve month high of $64.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.46.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on NDAQ. Edward Jones began coverage on Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.92.

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.