Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%.

Nasdaq Stock Up 0.7 %

Nasdaq stock opened at $81.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.51. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $54.90 and a twelve month high of $83.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $444,086.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 205,821 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,918,196.14. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total value of $950,906.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,817 shares of company stock valued at $2,330,033 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on NDAQ. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.67.

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.