Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Argus raised their price target on the stock from $76.00 to $82.00. Argus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Nasdaq traded as high as $79.27 and last traded at $77.88, with a volume of 181025 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $76.14.

NDAQ has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total value of $1,027,515.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,955.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total transaction of $454,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,320,274.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total transaction of $1,027,515.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 312.0% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 183,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,601,000 after purchasing an additional 139,228 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 237.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 30,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 517,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,624,000 after purchasing an additional 57,900 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 1st quarter valued at $2,595,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 55.8% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 27,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 9,894 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $44.60 billion, a PE ratio of 46.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.49%.

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.