Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Rating Increased to Outperform at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $82.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on NDAQ. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.06.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $74.14 on Monday. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $47.56 and a 12-month high of $74.88. The company has a market capitalization of $42.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $71.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.15.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 15.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Seller Lp Argus sold 42,804,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total transaction of $2,764,295,688.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,804,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,764,295,688.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Pacific Financial lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 13,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 11,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 32,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,967,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.