Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Trims Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Target Price to $74.00

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its target price trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on NDAQ. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays dropped their price objective on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $66.92.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NDAQ opened at $60.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq has a 12 month low of $46.88 and a 12 month high of $64.25. The stock has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.55.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 15.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value 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 this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total value of $465,534.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Nasdaq by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Nasdaq during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Nasdaq by 74.9% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is owned by 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.