Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Now Covered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a market perform rating and a $92.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

NDAQ has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen upgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Argus upgraded Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.08.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $88.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $50.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.02. Nasdaq has a fifty-two week low of $65.70 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $85.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 21.77%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 34.95%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.91, for a total transaction of $29,073,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,924,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,542,349.73. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 506,451 shares of company stock worth $47,142,951 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Nasdaq by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in Nasdaq by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Nasdaq by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in Nasdaq by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 8,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $831,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.