Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,450,000 shares, a drop of 33.3% from the February 29th total of 5,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDAQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.70.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

Shares of NDAQ stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $63.10. 2,791,766 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,857,272. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Nasdaq has a 52-week low of $46.88 and a 52-week high of $63.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.92.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Nasdaq will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Nasdaq by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 6,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 2,328 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $246,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $287,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,065,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,620,131,000 after acquiring an additional 745,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nasdaq during the 4th quarter worth $259,000. 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.