Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Receives Market Perform Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a Market Perform rating on Nasdaq with a $92 price target, implying roughly a 6.48% upside from the prior close.
• Broader analyst consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $105, and most analysts rate the stock Buy or better (1 Strong Buy, 13 Buy, 2 Hold).
• CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares for about $9.7 million on April 1 under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, part of insider sales of 506,451 shares in the last 90 days (insiders own 0.70%).

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market perform" rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $92.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price target would suggest a potential upside of 6.48% from the company's previous close.

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $120.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up from $114.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $105.00.

Nasdaq Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $86.40 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq has a 1 year low of $65.70 and a 1 year high of $101.79. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $85.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.70. The firm has a market cap of $49.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total transaction of $9,706,923.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,965,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $167,953,765.44. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 506,451 shares of company stock worth $47,142,951. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Front Row Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 318 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company's stock.

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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