Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Downgraded by Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $64.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $76.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on NDAQ. Morgan Stanley upgraded Nasdaq from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Edward Jones began coverage on Nasdaq in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $65.92.

Nasdaq Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Nasdaq stock opened at $59.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.61 and a 200-day moving average of $57.07. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $64.25. The stock has a market cap of $34.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.53, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.94.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its 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). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

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

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 directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 31,010,436 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,647,360 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Thoma Bravo L.P. bought a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,166,454,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted 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 acquiring an additional 4,280,846 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $239,347,000. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC acquired a new stake in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth $96,241,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Nasdaq by 1.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

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.