Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 25.20% from the company’s current price.

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.60.

Nasdaq Trading Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $75.88 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.44, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $54.90 and a 12 month high of $83.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.60.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 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 firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $1,027,515.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,955.60. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total transaction of $950,906.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at $8,072,268.75. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 94.8% during the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Focused Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in Nasdaq in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. 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.