Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.87.

Nasdaq Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $82.65 on Wednesday. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $53.62 and a 52-week high of $83.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.50 billion, a PE ratio of 49.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly 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. The firm 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total value of $454,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at $16,320,274.73. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the business’s 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 approximately $8,072,268.75. This represents 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 owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Nasdaq by 163.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,835,235,000 after purchasing an additional 24,084,154 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 11.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,310,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811,616 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 9.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,181,000 after buying an additional 932,665 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 14.6% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 28.4% in the 1st quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,436,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,357,000 after buying an additional 1,866,219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

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.