Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $105.55 and last traded at $105.0580, with a volume of 873,977 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $104.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays set a $121.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Bank of America lowered their price target on Nasdaq from $135.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on Nasdaq from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.53.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $58.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 22.81% and a return on equity of 19.03%. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $106,875.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,173,295. This represents a 1.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tal Cohen sold 10,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.34, for a total value of $1,073,702.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 205,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,192,553.84. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 18,890 shares of company stock worth $1,912,866 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 3,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 2.6% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 4,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $426,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.8% in the first quarter. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC now owns 7,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its position in Nasdaq by 2.5% during the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC grew its position in Nasdaq by 5.9% during the first quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 2,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology and market infrastructure company best known for operating the Nasdaq Stock Market, one of the world’s largest electronic stock exchanges. The company provides listing services for public companies and operates trading venues for equities, options and other financial products. Its exchange business serves companies, investors and market participants in the United States, as well as through Nasdaq’s Nordic and Baltic market operations.

Beyond its exchange activities, Nasdaq provides market data, analytics, indexes and technology used by exchanges, brokers, banks, asset managers and other financial institutions.