Nasdaq’s (NDAQ) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Argus increased their target price on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.60.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ opened at $75.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.61 billion, a PE ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $79.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.80. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $54.90 and a 52-week high of $83.77. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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 predict that Nasdaq will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total value of $950,906.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808 in the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake 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 valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.0% in 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. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 9,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $759,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.