Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target Raised to $84.00

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its price target lifted by Raymond James from $83.00 to $84.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

NDAQ has been the topic of several other reports. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. 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. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $75.88 on Thursday. Nasdaq has a one year low of $54.90 and a one year high of $83.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $79.26 and a 200-day moving average of $72.80. The company has a market capitalization of $43.61 billion, a PE ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total transaction of $454,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at $16,320,274.73. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total transaction of $950,906.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,072,268.75. This trade represents a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cumberland Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at about $10,400,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 49.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 164,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,987,000 after buying an additional 54,594 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at about $2,701,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 8.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,358,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,144,000 after buying an additional 174,778 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 10.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,223,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $235,343,000 after buying an additional 313,079 shares during the period. 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.