Short Interest in Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Declines By 12.6%

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,110,000 shares, a decline of 12.6% from the December 31st total of 4,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,600,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on NDAQ. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.88.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at $8,072,268.75. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total value of $444,086.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 205,821 shares in the company, valued at $15,918,196.14. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,817 shares of company stock worth $2,330,033 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in 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 period. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 1.0% in the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 13,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in 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 period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ opened at $82.34 on Friday. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $54.90 and a 12 month high of $83.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.70. The stock has a market cap of $47.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.98. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 15.10%. On average, research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 50.00%.

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.