Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $88.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on NDAQ. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.87.

Nasdaq Price Performance

NDAQ opened at $80.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.91. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $53.62 and a 52-week high of $81.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 57.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total value of $1,027,515.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,955.60. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total value of $454,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at $16,320,274.73. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the first quarter valued at approximately $745,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 425.1% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 19,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,236,000 after buying an additional 15,862 shares during the period. American International Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 102,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,485,000 after acquiring an additional 9,887 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its position in Nasdaq by 6,408.3% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nasdaq Company Profile

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.