Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Receives $67.00 Consensus PT from Analysts

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $67.00.

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Edward Jones assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total value of $181,826.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,511,710.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 89.3% during the 1st 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 acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 74.9% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Up 1.7 %

NDAQ opened at $60.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $34.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $46.88 and a 12 month high of $64.25.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.53%.

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.