Brokerages Set Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target at $107.15

Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $107.1538.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NDAQ. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Argus upgraded Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.6%

NDAQ opened at $90.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $51.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $85.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.61. Nasdaq has a one year low of $74.11 and a one year high of $101.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.53%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total value of $9,706,923.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,965,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,953,765.44. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 506,451 shares of company stock valued at $47,142,951 in the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 41.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 77,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,819,000 after buying an additional 22,685 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 3.3% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 605,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,561,000 after buying an additional 19,078 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 6.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,275,902,000 after buying an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 162.1% during the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 25,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,251,000 after buying an additional 15,739 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 74.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 82,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,259,000 after buying an additional 35,015 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.