Barclays Initiates Coverage on Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Analysts at Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $76.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target points to a potential upside of 23.54% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Edward Jones began coverage on Nasdaq in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.09.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock opened at $61.52 on Thursday. Nasdaq has a 1 year low of $46.88 and a 1 year high of $64.25. The stock has a market cap of $35.39 billion, a PE ratio of 29.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.64. 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 (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 17.48%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 89.3% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Mango Five Family Inc. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

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.