Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Increases Dividend to $0.24 Per Share

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is a boost from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Nasdaq has increased its dividend by an average of 10.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Nasdaq has a dividend payout ratio of 28.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Nasdaq to earn $3.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.4%.

Nasdaq Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $60.29 on Friday. Nasdaq has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $64.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $34.68 billion, a PE ratio of 28.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.39.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 17.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Edward Jones assumed coverage on Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.55.

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.