Morgan Stanley Lowers Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target to $72.00

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ – Get Rating) had its price objective decreased by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $73.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 14.30% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on NDAQ. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 28th. Redburn Partners assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, November 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 6th. Bank of America cut shares of Nasdaq from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Tuesday, October 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.24.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $62.99 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.31. The company has a market capitalization of $30.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.96. Nasdaq has a 1 year low of $46.77 and a 1 year high of $69.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $890.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $884.15 million. Nasdaq had a net margin of 18.72% and a return on equity of 22.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.86, for a total value of $119,406.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,211,509.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $883,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 122,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,940,985. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.86, for a total transaction of $119,406.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,211,509.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,896 shares of company stock worth $1,267,515 in the last 90 days. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. RB Capital Management LLC raised its position in Nasdaq by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 3,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Nasdaq by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in Nasdaq by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $701,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Nasdaq by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 136,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,319,000 after buying an additional 10,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 316,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,373,000 after purchasing an additional 76,603 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.01% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Company Profile

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Nasdaq, Inc operates as a technology company that serves capital markets and other industries worldwide. The Market Technology segment includes anti financial crime technology business, which offers Nasdaq Trade Surveillance, a SaaS solution for brokers and other market participants to assist them in complying with market rules, regulations, and internal market surveillance policies; Nasdaq Automated Investigator, a cloud-deployed anti-money laundering tool; and Verafin, a SaaS technology provider of anti-financial crime management solutions.