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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $66.92.

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $60.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.55. The firm has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.93. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $46.88 and a 12-month high of $64.25.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is 50.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $465,534.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were 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 owns 61,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in Nasdaq by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 3,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Bollard Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 71,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,144,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 26,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.