TD Cowen Begins Coverage on Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $83.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Nasdaq from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Nasdaq from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Nasdaq from an underperform rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $53.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $73.87.

Nasdaq Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $72.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.21, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.07. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $46.88 and a 12 month high of $74.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 15.45% and a net margin of 14.43%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.53%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In related news, major shareholder Seller Lp Argus sold 42,804,207 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total value of $2,764,295,688.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,804,207 shares in the company, valued at $2,764,295,688.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Thoma Bravo L.P. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $4,166,454,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 7.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,239,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,043,936,000 after buying an additional 3,173,981 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 28.4% in the 1st quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,436,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,219 shares in the last quarter. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $96,241,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 283.8% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 1,154,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,880,000 after purchasing an additional 853,414 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.