Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target Cut to $76.00 by Analysts at Rosenblatt Securities

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its price objective trimmed by Rosenblatt Securities from $82.00 to $76.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

NDAQ has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $66.92.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.3 %

NDAQ opened at $60.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $59.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.46. 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 12-month low of $46.88 and a 12-month high of $64.25.

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

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 payout ratio is currently 46.32%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other 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 value of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other 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 value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thoma Bravo L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,166,454,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,065,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,620,131,000 after purchasing an additional 745,965 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 214.0% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,280,846 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 16.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,787,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,564,000 after acquiring an additional 681,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,347,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.