MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $241.00.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MKTX. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $224.02 on Wednesday. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The firm has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a PE ratio of 32.90, a P/E/G ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.49.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The company had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.99 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 2,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.0% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 5,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.7% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 155.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 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.