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

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

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $197.08 on Tuesday. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $195.01 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The firm has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a PEG ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $208.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $232.21.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 146.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,265,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $270,422,000 after purchasing an additional 752,111 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after purchasing an additional 564,820 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $128,535,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 385.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 545,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,554,000 after purchasing an additional 433,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 40.0% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,134,000 after purchasing an additional 204,660 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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.