Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 16.43% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on NDAQ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. William Blair began coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.25.

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NDAQ stock traded down $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $81.59. 780,891 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,736,477. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $79.50 and a 200 day moving average of $74.51. Nasdaq has a fifty-two week low of $54.90 and a fifty-two week high of $83.77.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%. Equities analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total transaction of $950,906.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,072,268.75. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $444,086.28. Following the sale, the insider now owns 205,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,918,196.14. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,817 shares of company stock worth $2,330,033 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDAQ. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Nasdaq by 163.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,833,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,835,235,000 after buying an additional 24,084,154 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in Nasdaq by 13,532.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $292,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,658 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Nasdaq by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,951,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,310,653,000 after buying an additional 1,811,616 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $110,867,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P grew its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 8,596,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,090 shares during the period. 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.