StockNews.com Upgrades Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) to “Hold”

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on NDAQ. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.70.

Nasdaq Stock Up 1.2 %

NDAQ stock traded up $0.77 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $63.00. 3,036,657 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,190,631. The company has a market capitalization of $36.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.68. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $46.88 and a 12 month high of $63.08.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The company’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NDAQ. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in shares of Nasdaq in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Mango Five Family Inc. acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Nasdaq during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.