Royal Bank of Canada Begins Coverage on Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)

Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $88.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America raised Nasdaq from an underperform rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Nasdaq from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a report on Thursday. They set a hold rating and a $83.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $73.87.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock opened at $72.60 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $70.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.11. Nasdaq has a one year low of $46.88 and a one year high of $74.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $41.76 billion, a PE ratio of 38.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 15.45% and a net margin of 14.43%. Nasdaq’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Nasdaq will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.53%.

Insider Transactions at Nasdaq

In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Seller Lp Argus sold 42,804,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total value of $2,764,295,688.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,804,207 shares in the company, valued at $2,764,295,688.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 22.0% in the first quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 11,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Nasdaq by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 32,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,967,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in Nasdaq by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.