Analysts Set Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target at $81.53

Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $81.53.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NDAQ shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ opened at $80.12 on Wednesday. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $54.54 and a twelve month high of $83.77. The firm has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.98, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.97. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.12.

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

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total value of $950,906.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at $8,072,268.75. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total transaction of $1,027,515.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,955.60. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at about $60,099,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 8.0% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 90,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,618,000 after purchasing an additional 6,704 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 38.6% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 60,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,420,000 after buying an additional 16,868 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the third quarter worth approximately $1,266,000. Finally, Sfmg LLC acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the third quarter worth approximately $207,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.