Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Reaches New 1-Year High at $74.25

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $74.25 and last traded at $74.04, with a volume of 1465915 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $72.90.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America raised shares of Nasdaq from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $53.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.08.

Nasdaq Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $69.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.54. The company has a market cap of $42.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.10, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 15.45%. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Seller Lp Argus sold 42,804,207 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total transaction of $2,764,295,688.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,804,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,764,295,688.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thoma Bravo L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at $4,166,454,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 7.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,239,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,043,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,173,981 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 28.4% during the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,436,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,219 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 2.0% during the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,767,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $287,270,000 after purchasing an additional 94,122 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 26.5% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,878,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $181,609,000 after acquiring an additional 602,040 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.