Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Cut to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $74.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Nasdaq from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.88.

Nasdaq Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NDAQ opened at $70.30 on Tuesday. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $58.10 and a 12-month high of $84.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $40.43 billion, a PE ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50 day moving average is $77.01 and its 200 day moving average is $77.43.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 14.82%. Research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total transaction of $1,102,179.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at $4,398,253.92. This represents a 20.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.81, for a total transaction of $47,179.17. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,450,783.80. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,116 shares of company stock worth $1,434,818 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at about $424,285,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Nasdaq by 37.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,005,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $464,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,201 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,867,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth $105,481,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,379,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $802,401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,672 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nasdaq Company Profile

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.