Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $108.90 and last traded at $108.2720, with a volume of 7,532 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $106.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Nasdaq from $119.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Friday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Nasdaq from $109.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Zacks Research cut Nasdaq from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Nasdaq from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.53.

Nasdaq Stock Up 1.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $96.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.17 billion, a PE ratio of 29.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.95.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 22.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bradley J. Peterson sold 3,987 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.75, for a total transaction of $417,638.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 114,306 shares in the company, valued at $11,973,553.50. The trade was a 3.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeremy Skule sold 1,125 shares of Nasdaq stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $106,875.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,173,295. This represents a 1.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 22,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,330,505 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Nasdaq by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 8,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after buying an additional 561 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in Nasdaq by 5.3% in the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 97,860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,004,000 after acquiring an additional 4,949 shares during the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. acquired a new position in Nasdaq in the third quarter valued at approximately $397,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Nasdaq by 1.0% in the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 274,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Nasdaq by 2.2% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. 72.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology and market infrastructure company best known for operating the Nasdaq Stock Market, one of the world’s largest electronic stock exchanges. The company provides listing services for public companies and operates trading venues for equities, options and other financial products. Its exchange business serves companies, investors and market participants in the United States, as well as through Nasdaq’s Nordic and Baltic market operations.

Beyond its exchange activities, Nasdaq provides market data, analytics, indexes and technology used by exchanges, brokers, banks, asset managers and other financial institutions.