MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.06 EPS

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $162.53. The company had a trading volume of 805,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,300,674. MarketAxess has a 1-year low of $108.75 and a 1-year high of $195.96. The firm has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $123.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.17.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1.7% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $939,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 7,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.7% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 12,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,182,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $170.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $134.00 price objective (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.18.

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.