Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Stock

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) had its price target upped by research analysts at Barclays from $115.00 to $116.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 30.67% from the company’s previous close.

NDAQ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Argus raised shares of Nasdaq to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $105.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $92.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.08.

Nasdaq Trading Up 2.7%

NDAQ stock traded up $2.37 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.77. The company had a trading volume of 1,344,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,283,767. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $65.70 and a 52 week high of $101.79. The company has a market cap of $50.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average of $85.88 and a 200 day moving average of $89.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Nasdaq had a net margin of 21.77% and a return on equity of 16.90%. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nasdaq will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nasdaq news, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 113,611 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total value of $9,706,923.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,965,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,953,765.44. This trade represents a 5.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 506,451 shares of company stock worth $47,142,951. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 8,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $831,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 72.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Company Profile

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.