Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Stock

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its price objective boosted by Oppenheimer from $86.00 to $89.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target points to a potential upside of 16.87% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on NDAQ. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.73.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $76.15. The company had a trading volume of 382,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,657,055. The stock has a market cap of $43.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.60, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $54.90 and a 12 month high of $83.77.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Nasdaq

In related news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 13,642 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total transaction of $1,027,515.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 142,830 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,955.60. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,000 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.92, for a total value of $935,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,928,073.60. This represents a 9.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,459 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,808. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Nasdaq during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Focused Wealth Management Inc bought a new position in Nasdaq in the third quarter worth $35,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Nasdaq during the third quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors 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.