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

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Nasdaq had a net margin of 17.48% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Nasdaq Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NDAQ traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $60.12. 4,792,085 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,181,565. Nasdaq has a 52 week low of $46.88 and a 52 week high of $64.25. The company has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.48, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.39. 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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Nasdaq’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nasdaq’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nasdaq

In other news, 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 transaction of $1,798,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 at the SEC website. In other Nasdaq news, major shareholder Dubai Ltd Borse sold 31,000,000 shares of the business’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 directly owns 58,341,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,809,610. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan Everard Smith sold 7,400 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $3,879,785.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NDAQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Nasdaq from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Nasdaq from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays decreased their price target on Nasdaq from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Nasdaq from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Nasdaq from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nasdaq presently 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.