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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $190.8750.

A number of equities analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $116.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.17. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $152.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.09. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $115.55 and a 12 month high of $228.16. The company has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The company had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 36.88%.

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.