Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Stock Rating Upgraded by Argus

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was upgraded by analysts at Argus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on NDAQ. UBS Group reiterated 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. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price (up previously from $114.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on shares of Nasdaq and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.13.

Nasdaq Stock Down 1.8%

Nasdaq stock opened at $79.01 on Wednesday. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $64.84 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The stock has a market cap of $45.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.57, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $95.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Nasdaq had a net margin of 21.77% and a return on equity of 16.90%. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total value of $450,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 125,674 shares in the company, valued at $12,568,656.74. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total transaction of $28,917,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,924,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,541,400.17. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 604,500 shares of company stock worth $58,440,045 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Nasdaq by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,274,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,438,897,000 after purchasing an additional 6,840,735 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the fourth quarter valued at $530,100,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Nasdaq by 6.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,275,902,000 after buying an additional 3,848,406 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 82.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $589,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 261.7% in the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,690,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $240,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,946,479 shares in the last quarter. 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.