Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $107.3571.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ opened at $82.24 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.95. The firm has a market cap of $46.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.97. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $77.09 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The business’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.35%.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, major shareholder Ab Investor acquired 56,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $85.98 per share, with a total value of $4,882,116.36. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 58,439,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,024,603,103.84. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total transaction of $9,706,923.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,965,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,953,765.44. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 138,162 shares of company stock worth $11,932,913 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,855,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,329,000 after acquiring an additional 45,783 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,933,000 after acquiring an additional 13,160 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,245,000. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,872,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 129.2% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 55,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,877,000 after acquiring an additional 31,081 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.