Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on NDAQ. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Edward Jones initiated coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a buy rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $66.92.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $60.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq has a fifty-two week low of $46.88 and a fifty-two week high of $64.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.46. The company has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.93.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis 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 (DPR) is 46.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Thoma Bravo L.P. bought a new stake in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth about $4,166,454,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,065,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,620,131,000 after purchasing an additional 745,965 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 214.0% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,280,846 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,787,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,564,000 after purchasing an additional 681,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at about $239,347,000. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Company Profile

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.