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

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 21.76% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on NDAQ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. William Blair initiated coverage on Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Bank of America lowered their price target on Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.20.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ traded up $1.66 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $78.02. 3,600,358 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,919,041. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $54.90 and a 12 month high of $83.77. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.56. The stock has a market cap of $44.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,955.60. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total transaction of $935,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,928,073.60. The trade was a 9.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 163.3% during 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 position in 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 worth $292,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,658 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,616 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P grew its position in Nasdaq by 14.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,181,000 after acquiring an additional 932,665 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by 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.