MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $204.8182.

A number of analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $209.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 992.9% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $182.51 on Wednesday. MarketAxess has a 1-year low of $156.17 and a 1-year high of $232.84. The stock has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a PE ratio of 31.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.32.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.15. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 20.20%. The company had revenue of $208.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 51.70%.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.