Nasdaq’s (NDAQ) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays upped their price target on Nasdaq from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.60.

Nasdaq Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $75.88 on Thursday. Nasdaq has a 1-year low of $54.90 and a 1-year high of $83.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $43.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.98.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.49%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total transaction of $454,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 215,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,320,274.73. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total value of $935,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,580 shares in the company, valued at $8,928,073.60. This trade represents a 9.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 163.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,835,235,000 after purchasing an additional 24,084,154 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 13,532.3% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $292,040,000 after buying an additional 3,970,658 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 11.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,653,000 after buying an additional 1,811,616 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $627,596,000 after buying an additional 1,096,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 9.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,181,000 after buying an additional 932,665 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.