MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Raised to $264.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price target boosted by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $258.00 to $264.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MKTX. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.7 %

MKTX opened at $267.13 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $272.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $234.92. The firm has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,539,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $995,272,000 after purchasing an additional 13,018 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its position in MarketAxess by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,878,000 after purchasing an additional 564,820 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in MarketAxess by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,580,000 after purchasing an additional 170,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in MarketAxess by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,032,000 after purchasing an additional 8,042 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by 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.