Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $88.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.10% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on NDAQ. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Nasdaq from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.87.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 258,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,869,006. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.59. Nasdaq has a one year low of $53.36 and a one year high of $80.77.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total value of $1,027,515.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,955.60. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $444,086.28. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 205,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,918,196.14. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,384 shares of company stock worth $2,860,902 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Nasdaq by 163.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,835,235,000 after acquiring an additional 24,084,154 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 13,532.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its position in Nasdaq by 28.4% in the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,436,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $532,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,219 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Nasdaq by 11.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harris Associates L P lifted its position in Nasdaq by 14.6% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.