Insider Selling: Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) EVP Sells $700,222.20 in Stock

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) EVP Bradley Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total value of $700,222.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. The trade was a 5.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $91.32 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $51.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.51, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.98. Nasdaq, Inc. has a 12 month low of $76.86 and a 12 month high of $101.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.65.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is presently 32.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on NDAQ. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.15.

About Nasdaq

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.