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

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $241.78.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. William Blair started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 11.0% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 7,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 6,904.2% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 3,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $727,000 after buying an additional 3,314 shares in the last quarter. Optimize Financial Inc boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 53.2% during the first quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 1,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $414,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 3,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $217.85 on Tuesday. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The firm has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $217.95 and its 200-day moving average is $223.17.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. The company had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.87%.

About MarketAxess

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.