Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.02), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share.

Nasdaq Stock Performance

NASDAQ NDAQ traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.12. 4,792,085 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,181,565. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Nasdaq has a fifty-two week low of $46.88 and a fifty-two week high of $64.25.

Nasdaq Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This is a positive change from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.71%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on NDAQ. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Nasdaq from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Nasdaq from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Nasdaq from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.92.

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.