Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 34.66% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on NDAQ. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Nasdaq from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Nasdaq from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $74.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.88.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NDAQ stock traded down $1.44 during trading on Thursday, reaching $70.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,087,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,821,878. The company has a market cap of $40.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.02. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $58.10 and a twelve month high of $84.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.45.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,500 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $285,460.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,778.56. The trade was a 5.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sarah Youngwood sold 14,959 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.68, for a total transaction of $1,102,179.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 59,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,398,253.92. This trade represents a 20.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,116 shares of company stock worth $1,434,818. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Founders Capital Management purchased a new stake in Nasdaq in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 106.6% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.