Nasdaq, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.31 (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.31 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, September 25th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th.

Nasdaq has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Nasdaq has a dividend payout ratio of 34.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Nasdaq to earn $4.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.9%.

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.5%

Nasdaq stock traded down $0.48 during trading on Thursday, reaching $90.42. 5,396,013 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,100,764. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $76.55 and a 52-week high of $101.79. The firm has a market cap of $51.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $87.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.54.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NDAQ. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Nasdaq from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $114.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $108.00.

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.