MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Price Down 2.7% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) dropped 2.7% during trading on Wednesday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $213.00. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. MarketAxess traded as low as $201.16 and last traded at $200.75. Approximately 1,069,525 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 124% from the average daily volume of 477,336 shares. The stock had previously closed at $206.27.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on MKTX. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MarketAxess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. William Blair started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.11.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,002,475,000 after buying an additional 90,805 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $520,013,000 after acquiring an additional 341,493 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,533,000 after acquiring an additional 236,118 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in MarketAxess by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after acquiring an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,472,000 after purchasing an additional 30,180 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $205.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. On average, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

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.