MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $200.40.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings raised MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 9th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $180.12 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.05, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.93. MarketAxess has a 52 week low of $156.17 and a 52 week high of $232.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.73.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The firm had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.73 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.85%.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $579,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp increased its stake in MarketAxess by 6.6% during the second quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp now owns 1,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 4.3% during the second quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in MarketAxess by 4.2% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 1.9% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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.