Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Issues Earnings Results

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 13.67%.

Nasdaq Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Nasdaq stock traded down $1.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $80.04. The company had a trading volume of 2,474,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,573,648. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.46. Nasdaq has a fifty-two week low of $54.90 and a fifty-two week high of $83.77. The firm has a market cap of $46.00 billion, a PE ratio of 47.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.98. 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 57.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 12,075 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.75, for a total transaction of $950,906.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,072,268.75. This trade represents a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Pc Nelson Griggs sold 5,742 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total value of $444,086.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 205,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,918,196.14. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,817 shares of company stock valued at $2,330,033. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen cut their price target on Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Nasdaq from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.73.

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.