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

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $264.60.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $229.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The business has a fifty day moving average of $263.76 and a 200-day moving average of $243.70.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 22.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,265,000 after buying an additional 10,361 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 242.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 5,818 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 10,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,640,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at $836,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 24,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,338,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.