Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Raised to “Buy” at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $73.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on NDAQ. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Nasdaq from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $63.70.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $63.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.92. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $63.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.14 and a 200-day moving average of $54.74.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 17.48%. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.71%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thoma Bravo L.P. purchased a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,166,454,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,065,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,620,131,000 after acquiring an additional 745,965 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,147,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,502,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,276,599 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,431,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $719,419,000 after acquiring an additional 321,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,735,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $422,030,000 after acquiring an additional 125,136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

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.