Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target Lowered to $74.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its price objective trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Edward Jones started coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a buy rating for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Nasdaq from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $66.92.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ opened at $60.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $34.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.46. Nasdaq has a 1 year low of $46.88 and a 1 year high of $64.25.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.32%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 3,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Bollard Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 71,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,144,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 26,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,649,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.