Brokerages Set MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Target Price at $264.60

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $264.60.

MKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2,889.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,032,000 after buying an additional 327,913 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,447,000 after acquiring an additional 285,665 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 120.6% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,823,000 after purchasing an additional 214,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $229.40 on Friday. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $263.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $243.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.08, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 40.11%.

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.