Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ - Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 17.48%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.12. The company had a trading volume of 4,792,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,181,565. The company has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $64.25. The business's 50-day moving average is $59.93 and its 200 day moving average is $56.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from Nasdaq's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley upgraded Nasdaq from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays decreased their target price on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Nasdaq

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.