How to buy Nielsen stock | $20.87

Nielsen Holdings plc is a consulting services business based in the US. Nielsen shares (NLSN) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Nielsen employs 46,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$6.3 billion.

How to buy shares in Nielsen

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Nielsen. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: NLSN. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Nielsen reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$20.87, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Nielsen, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Nielsen. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Nielsen share price

Use our graph to track the performance of NLSN stocks over time.

Nielsen shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-12-29.

Latest market close	USD$20.87
52-week range	USD$11.4876 - USD$22.0002
50-day moving average	USD$17.5982
200-day moving average	USD$15.4212
Wall St. target price	USD$20.98
PE ratio	N/A
Dividend yield	USD$0.24 (1.17%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$-1.942

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Is it a good time to buy Nielsen stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Nielsen Holdings plc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Nielsen price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $20.87 from 2020-12-31

1 week (2021-01-13)	-4.27%
1 month (2020-12-23)	3.16%
3 months (2020-10-20)	53.34%
6 months (2020-07-20)	40.82%

1 year (2020-01-19)	N/A
2 years (2019-01-19)	N/A
3 years (2018-01-19)	36.71
5 years (2016-01-20)	43.94

Is Nielsen under- or over-valued?

Valuing Nielsen stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Nielsen's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Nielsen's PEG ratio

Nielsen's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.77. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Nielsen's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Nielsen's EBITDA

Nielsen's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$954 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Nielsen's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Nielsen financials

Revenue TTM	USD$6.3 billion
Operating margin TTM	9.45%
Gross profit TTM	USD$3.7 billion
Return on assets TTM	2.47%
Return on equity TTM	-5.99%
Profit margin	-2.38%
Book value	$5.692
Market capitalisation	USD$7.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Nielsen shares

There are currently 22.5 million Nielsen shares held short by investors – that's known as Nielsen's "short interest". This figure is 22.2% down from 29.0 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Nielsen shares can be evaluated.

Nielsen's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Nielsen's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Nielsen shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Nielsen shares traded daily (recently around 6.4 million). Nielsen's SIR currently stands at 3.51. In other words for every 100,000 Nielsen shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3510 shares are currently held short.

However Nielsen's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Nielsen shares, or, against the total number of tradable Nielsen shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Nielsen's short interest could be expressed as 0.06% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Nielsen shares in existence, roughly 60 shares are currently held short) or 0.0729% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Nielsen shares, roughly 73 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Nielsen.

Find out more about how you can short Nielsen stock.

Nielsen's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Nielsen.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Nielsen's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 28.62

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Nielsen's overall score of 28.62 (as at 01/01/2019) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 36th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Nielsen is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Nielsen's environmental score

Environmental score: 4.06/100

Nielsen's environmental score of 4.06 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Nielsen is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Nielsen's social score

Social score: 19.09/100

Nielsen's social score of 19.09 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Nielsen is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Nielsen's governance score

Governance score: 9.47/100

Nielsen's governance score puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Nielsen is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Nielsen's controversy score

Controversy score: 1/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Nielsen scored a 1 out of 5 for controversy – the highest score possible, reflecting that Nielsen has managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Nielsen Holdings plc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	28.62
Total ESG percentile	36.36
Environmental score	4.06
Environmental score percentile	7
Social score	19.09
Social score percentile	7
Governance score	9.47
Governance score percentile	7
Level of controversy	1

Nielsen share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 15.58% of net profits

Recently Nielsen has paid out, on average, around 15.58% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 1.17% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Nielsen shareholders could enjoy a 1.17% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Nielsen's case, that would currently equate to about $0.24 per share.

While Nielsen's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that Nielsen is investing more in its future growth.

Nielsen's most recent dividend payout was on 3 December 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 18 November 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Nielsen share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Nielsen's shares have ranged in value from as little as $11.4876 up to $22.0002. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Nielsen's is 1.305. This would suggest that Nielsen's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Nielsen overview

Nielsen Holdings plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a measurement and data analytics company worldwide. It operates in two segments, Connect and Media. The Connect segment provides retail transactional measurement data, consumer behavior information, and analytics primarily to businesses in the consumer packaged goods industry. This segment offers data on retail measurement services, such as market share, competitive sales volumes, and insights into activities comprising distribution, pricing, merchandising, and promotion; consumer panel measurement, which offers insight into shopper behavior that consists of trial and repeat purchase for new products, brand or retailer loyalty, and customer segmentation; and analytical services that help clients in taking business decisions in product development and marketing cycles. The Media segment provides viewership and listening data, and analytics principally to the media and advertising industries covering television, radio, print, online, digital, mobile viewing, and listening platforms. This segment offers television audience measurement services; audio audience measurement services; digital audience measurement services, such as digital media and market research, audience analytics, and social media measurement; mobile measurement services comprising measurement and consumer research for telecom and media companies; total audience measurement services; brand effect; social content ratings; advertising effectiveness measurement; and outcome measurement solutions. Nielsen Holdings plc offers media and marketing information, analytics, and manufacturer and retailer expertise about what and where consumers read, watch, and listen. The company was formerly known as Nielsen N.V. and changed its name to Nielsen Holdings plc in August 2015. Nielsen Holdings plc was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Nielsen is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.305% of Nielsen shares are held by insiders and 111.418% by institutions.

• How many people work for Nielsen?

  Latest data suggests 46,000 work at Nielsen.

• When does the fiscal year end for Nielsen?

  Nielsen's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Nielsen based?

  Nielsen's address is: 85 Broad Street, New York, NY, United States, 10004

• What is Nielsen's ISIN number?

  Nielsen's international securities identification number is: GB00BWFY5505

• What is Nielsen's CUSIP number?

  Nielsen's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: G6518L108