Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) PT Lowered to $76.00

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its price target lowered by Rosenblatt Securities from $82.00 to $76.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

NDAQ has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Nasdaq from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $66.92.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $60.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.93 and a 200 day moving average of $56.55. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $46.88 and a twelve month high of $64.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value 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 approximately $3,879,785.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thoma Bravo L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,166,454,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Nasdaq by 214.0% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,280,846 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $239,347,000. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at $96,241,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Nasdaq by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,065,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,620,131,000 after buying an additional 745,965 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

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.