Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Edward Jones

Edward Jones assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a buy rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Nasdaq from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $63.70.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $62.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $63.52. The firm has a market cap of $35.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.40, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $58.58 and its 200 day moving average is $55.18.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 17.48%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is currently 41.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Thoma Bravo L.P. purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at $4,166,454,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,065,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,620,131,000 after purchasing an additional 745,965 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Nasdaq by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,870,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 196,739 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 2.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,431,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $719,419,000 after acquiring an additional 321,354 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Nasdaq by 1.6% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,735,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $422,030,000 after buying an additional 125,136 shares during the period. 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.