StockNews.com Downgrades Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on NDAQ. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Raymond James upgraded Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.87.

Nasdaq Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $80.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.49, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.95. 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 has a 12-month low of $53.62 and a 12-month high of $81.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.91.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.49%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total transaction of $1,027,515.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 142,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,955.60. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total value of $454,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,320,274.73. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808 in the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $32,624,000 after purchasing an additional 57,900 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the first quarter valued at $2,595,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Nasdaq by 45.2% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 28,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,736,000 after purchasing an additional 8,974 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Nasdaq by 52.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 30,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,907,000 after buying an additional 10,427 shares during the period. Finally, American International Group Inc. boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 102,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,485,000 after buying an additional 9,887 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

About Nasdaq

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.