Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target Raised to $116.00 at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays raised its price target on Nasdaq to $116 (from $115) and kept an "overweight" rating, implying about a 30.7% upside
• Nasdaq reported a quarterly beat — EPS $0.96 vs. $0.92 expected and revenue $2.12B vs. $1.37B expected — with revenue up 13.4% year-over-year, and analysts forecast roughly 3.18 EPS for the current year.
• CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares at about $96.91 each (≈$29.1M), part of insider sales of 506,451 shares over the past 90 days; corporate insiders now own roughly 0.70% of the company.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at Barclays from $115.00 to $116.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Barclays's target price points to a potential upside of 30.67% from the stock's current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, January 12th. TD Cowen raised shares of Nasdaq from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $105.08.

Nasdaq Trading Up 2.7%

Nasdaq stock traded up $2.37 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,344,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,283,767. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $50.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.70. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $65.70 and a 12 month high of $101.79.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 21.77% and a return on equity of 16.90%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.91, for a total transaction of $29,073,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,924,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $186,542,349.73. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 506,451 shares of company stock worth $47,142,951 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,529 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Nasdaq by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in Nasdaq by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,574 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Nasdaq by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in Nasdaq by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 8,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $831,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Nasdaq

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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