Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Sets New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $84.24 and last traded at $83.58, with a volume of 256616 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $84.00.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 49.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley cut Nasdaq from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $74.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their price target on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.50.

Nasdaq Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.35. The stock has a market cap of $48.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,450,783.80. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total value of $1,102,179.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,398,253.92. This trade represents a 20.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,616 shares of company stock worth $1,813,598 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth approximately $424,285,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the first quarter worth approximately $241,614,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,005,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $464,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,201 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 40.8% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,494,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $416,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth approximately $110,867,000. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.