UBS Group Cuts MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target to $295.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective reduced by UBS Group from $305.00 to $295.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MKTX. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.11.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX opened at $203.19 on Monday. MarketAxess has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $205.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $235.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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 expect that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. 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. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $332,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $308,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $360,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $377,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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.