Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) PT Raised to $78.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its target price raised by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.97% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on NDAQ. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $64.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Edward Jones started coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.42.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ stock opened at $67.26 on Friday. Nasdaq has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $67.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $38.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.69.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total transaction of $181,826.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,511,710.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 240,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,198,000 after acquiring an additional 16,797 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth $1,949,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 312.0% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 183,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,601,000 after acquiring an additional 139,228 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 415,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,134,000 after acquiring an additional 46,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 237.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 30,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,000 after acquiring an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.