Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Friday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Nasdaq from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price target for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Edward Jones started coverage on Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a buy rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Nasdaq from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $66.92.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $60.08 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.02 and its 200 day moving average is $56.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $34.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.93. Nasdaq has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $64.25.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.32%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related 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 value of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of 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 owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 74.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.