MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $249.73.

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $197.08 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $232.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 28.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.04. MarketAxess has a fifty-two week low of $195.01 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.47%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at approximately $625,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the first quarter worth approximately $488,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the first quarter worth $229,000. Finally, LBP AM SA boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 88.3% during the first quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 3,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 1,822 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.