Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at William Blair

William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on NDAQ. Barclays lifted their price target on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on 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 twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.87.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.6 %

NDAQ opened at $81.52 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.30. The company has a market capitalization of $46.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.81, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $53.62 and a 52 week high of $82.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total value of $454,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 215,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,320,274.73. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 94.8% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Claro Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

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.