Brokerages Set MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) PT at $241.78

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $241.78.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Comerica Bank lifted its position in MarketAxess by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 5,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its position in MarketAxess by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $224.88 on Friday. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The firm has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $220.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.83.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The business had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.87%.

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.