Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. Nasdaq had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 15.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Nasdaq Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NDAQ traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.48. 609,405 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,889,093. The firm has a market cap of $42.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.60. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $47.56 and a 12-month high of $75.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Seller Lp Argus sold 42,804,207 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total transaction of $2,764,295,688.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,804,207 shares in the company, valued at $2,764,295,688.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NDAQ. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.27.

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.