Barclays Cuts Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target to $96.00

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $97.00 to $96.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.73.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ opened at $76.98 on Monday. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $54.90 and a 12-month high of $83.77. The stock has a market cap of $44.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.10, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $79.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.12.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 2.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.49%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other news, 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. This trade represents a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.71, for a total transaction of $454,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 215,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,320,274.73. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 49,459 shares of company stock worth $3,811,808. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Nasdaq by 163.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,835,235,000 after buying an additional 24,084,154 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811,616 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,761,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $783,181,000 after acquiring an additional 932,665 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Nasdaq by 13,532.3% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $292,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,658 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.