Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.05 EPS

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. Nasdaq had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Nasdaq Price Performance

Nasdaq stock traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $66.96. 3,627,558 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,822,939. The company has a market cap of $38.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Nasdaq has a twelve month low of $46.88 and a twelve month high of $67.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.77.

Nasdaq Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NDAQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nasdaq from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Nasdaq from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Edward Jones initiated coverage on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nasdaq from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nasdaq currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nasdaq news, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 3,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total transaction of $181,826.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,636 shares in the company, valued at $3,511,710.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.