Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Sets New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $82.44 and last traded at $82.44, with a volume of 901455 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $81.52.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Argus lifted their price target on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.87.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $47.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 13,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,011,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 28,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 2.5% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is 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.