Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Nasdaq, Inc. has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 12 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and 1 strong buy. The average 12-month price target is about $107.36.
• The company recently reported better-than-expected earnings, posting $0.96 EPS versus $0.93 expected and $2.14 billion in revenue versus $1.42 billion estimated. Quarterly revenue rose 13.7% year over year.
• Nasdaq also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.31 per share from $0.27, bringing the annualized payout to $1.24 and a yield of about 1.4%. Insiders have sold shares recently, while institutional investors continue to hold a large majority of the stock.

Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $107.3571.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday. Loop Capital set a $113.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nasdaq from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Nasdaq from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $106.00 in a report on Thursday, February 26th.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ opened at $88.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $50.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $77.09 and a 52-week high of $101.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business's fifty day moving average is $88.88 and its 200-day moving average is $90.10.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 23.15%.Nasdaq's quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nasdaq's payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michelle Lynn Daly sold 1,323 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.82, for a total transaction of $117,508.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 10,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $896,104.98. This represents a 11.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 7,710 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $700,222.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 141,035 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,808,798.70. This trade represents a 5.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 138,162 shares of company stock worth $11,932,913. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $530,100,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,275,902,000 after purchasing an additional 3,848,406 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 62.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $900,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3,567,843 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,736,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harris Associates L P lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,621,689 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $837,425,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company's stock.

Nasdaq Company Profile

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world's leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.

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