Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on NDAQ. Argus increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. 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 data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.87.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $80.16 on Tuesday. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $53.36 and a twelve month high of $80.77. 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 50-day moving average of $74.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.73. The company has a market capitalization of $46.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.00, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

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 $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total transaction of $935,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 114,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,928,073.60. This represents a 9.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $454,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at $16,320,274.73. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,384 shares of company stock worth $2,860,902. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 344.6% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 127,693 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,323,000 after buying an additional 98,973 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 39.0% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 207,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,137,000 after acquiring an additional 58,213 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 17.3% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 9.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $783,181,000 after purchasing an additional 932,665 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 17.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 50,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,654,000 after purchasing an additional 7,354 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.