Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target Cut to $73.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $76.00 to $73.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on NDAQ. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Nasdaq from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $66.92.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $60.12 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.46. The company has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 0.99. Nasdaq has a fifty-two week low of $46.88 and a fifty-two week high of $64.25.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 89.3% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in Nasdaq in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 74.9% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

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.