Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $74.95 and last traded at $74.80, with a volume of 1054824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.91.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.07.

Nasdaq Trading Up 1.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.53.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 15.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Seller Lp Argus sold 42,804,207 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total transaction of $2,764,295,688.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,804,207 shares in the company, valued at $2,764,295,688.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 240,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,198,000 after buying an additional 16,797 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 312.0% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 183,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,601,000 after purchasing an additional 139,228 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 237.3% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 30,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 517,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,624,000 after purchasing an additional 57,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the first quarter valued at about $2,595,000. 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.