Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $80.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $59.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 26.96% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.20.

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NDAQ opened at $63.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $36.24 billion, a PE ratio of 29.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $58.86 and a 200 day moving average of $55.50. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $64.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 17.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its position in Nasdaq by 1.1% during the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 26,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 21.0% in the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 50,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,197,000 after acquiring an additional 8,796 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Nasdaq by 12.2% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 66,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,219,000 after buying an additional 7,249 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Nasdaq by 11.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 6,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 2,328 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.