Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

NDAQ has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.13.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ stock opened at $79.01 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $95.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.33. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $64.84 and a 12-month high of $101.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $45.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.02.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 21.77%.Nasdaq’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total transaction of $28,917,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,924,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $185,541,400.17. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total value of $450,045.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 125,674 shares in the company, valued at $12,568,656.74. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 604,500 shares of company stock worth $58,440,045 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,511,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 41.7% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 77,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,819,000 after purchasing an additional 22,685 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 800,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,594,000 after purchasing an additional 72,032 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 74.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 82,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,259,000 after purchasing an additional 35,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,136,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,607,000 after buying an additional 17,369 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Company Profile

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.