Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Price Target Raised to $105.00 at Bank of America

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $103.00 to $105.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Nasdaq from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.94.

Nasdaq Stock Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $78.30 on Wednesday. Nasdaq has a 1 year low of $58.10 and a 1 year high of $84.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.03 billion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50-day moving average is $78.93 and its 200 day moving average is $77.68.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 15.10%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Nasdaq’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total value of $1,102,179.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,398,253.92. The trade was a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total value of $285,460.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,778.56. The trade was a 5.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Nasdaq by 24.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 977,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,400,000 after purchasing an additional 191,705 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter worth about $557,000. Harmony Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 58,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,302,000 after acquiring an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its position in Nasdaq by 60.4% in the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 14,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,400 shares in the last quarter. 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.