Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.87.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $82.99 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $75.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $47.70 billion, a PE ratio of 49.69, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.95. Nasdaq has a 1-year low of $53.62 and a 1-year high of $83.77.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total transaction of $1,027,515.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,955.60. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total value of $950,906.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. This trade represents a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 94.8% in the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 164.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.