Rosenblatt Securities Lowers Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) to Neutral

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was downgraded by equities researchers at Rosenblatt Securities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $64.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $76.00. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target indicates a potential upside of 5.09% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Edward Jones started coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.92.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDAQ opened at $60.90 on Wednesday. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $46.88 and a 12 month high of $64.25. The company has a market cap of $35.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $60.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,010,436 shares of company stock worth $1,798,647,360. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NDAQ. Thoma Bravo L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $4,166,454,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 214.0% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,280,846 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at $239,347,000. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at $96,241,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.