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

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $76.70 and last traded at $76.62, with a volume of 314977 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $75.89.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NDAQ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Nasdaq from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.27.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $43.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.91.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. Nasdaq had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nasdaq, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Nasdaq Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nasdaq

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its holdings in Nasdaq by 14.4% during the third quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 32,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 4,096 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nasdaq during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Nasdaq by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 171,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,539,000 after buying an additional 16,136 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 593,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,347,000 after acquiring an additional 15,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whitener Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Nasdaq by 3.3% during the third quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $821,000 after acquiring an additional 361 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.