Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

NDAQ has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.92.

Nasdaq Trading Down 0.3 %

Nasdaq stock traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $60.12. The company had a trading volume of 4,792,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,181,565. The firm has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq has a 1 year low of $46.88 and a 1 year high of $64.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.46.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. Nasdaq’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.91, for a total transaction of $465,534.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,785.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,809,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nasdaq

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NDAQ. Thoma Bravo L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth $4,166,454,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 214.0% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,281,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,280,846 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Nasdaq in the fourth quarter worth $239,347,000. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC purchased a new stake in Nasdaq during the fourth quarter worth $96,241,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,065,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,620,131,000 after buying an additional 745,965 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

Nasdaq Company Profile

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.