Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Stock Rated "Equal Weight" in New Coverage at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo initiated coverage of Nasdaq with an “equal weight” rating and a $100 price target, implying approximately 10.7% upside from the reported current price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target price of $109.25, despite one recent downgrade to “hold.”
• Nasdaq’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $1.07 versus the $0.98 estimate and revenue up 14.9% year over year; however, insiders sold more than 44,000 shares over the past 90 days.

Investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an "equal weight" rating and a $100.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would suggest a potential upside of 10.71% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $108.00 target price (up from $104.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nasdaq from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 target price on Nasdaq in a report on Thursday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $109.25.

Nasdaq Stock Down 1.5%

NDAQ stock opened at $90.33 on Friday. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $76.55 and a twelve month high of $101.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $50.49 billion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.99. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $95.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.06.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.09. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 18.38% and a net margin of 22.60%.The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Nasdaq's revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nelson Griggs sold 11,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.35, for a total transaction of $1,060,813.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 205,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,751,846.35. The trade was a 5.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total transaction of $1,203,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 128,293 shares in the company, valued at $11,881,214.73. This represents a 9.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 44,047 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,191 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the second quarter worth $2,931,637,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the second quarter valued at approximately $603,631,000. Nuveen LLC lifted its position in Nasdaq by 82.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $589,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736,322 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the 2nd quarter worth $377,818,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Nasdaq by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,884,101 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $306,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,114 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nasdaq Company Profile

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology, market infrastructure and exchange company headquartered in New York City. The company operates Nasdaq stock exchanges in the United States and provides trading, clearing, settlement, listing and market data services. Through its Nordic and Baltic operations, Nasdaq also serves financial markets across Northern Europe.

Nasdaq's business includes exchange and market services, index development, investment intelligence, and technology solutions for exchanges, brokers, banks, asset managers and other financial institutions.