Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $88.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.87.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $81.07 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $75.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.04. The company has a market cap of $46.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.95. Nasdaq has a one year low of $53.62 and a one year high of $81.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total transaction of $454,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,320,274.73. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $950,906.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at $8,072,268.75. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial increased its position 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 valued at $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position 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 valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems increased 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 valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. 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.