MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Argus

Argus lowered shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $179.11 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $156.17 and a 12-month high of $232.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $176.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.68. The company has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.93.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 EPS 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 business had revenue of $209.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect 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 issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 46.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 393.0% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 98,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,948,000 after acquiring an additional 78,336 shares during the period. ING Groep NV grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 655.2% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 13,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,387,000 after purchasing an additional 11,886 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in MarketAxess by 66.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,681,000 after purchasing an additional 891,303 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in MarketAxess by 535.8% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 108,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,228,000 after purchasing an additional 91,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $3,361,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.