MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Sets New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) reached a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $136.08 and last traded at $137.0850, with a volume of 20775 shares. The stock had previously closed at $137.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Argus cut shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $190.88.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.1%

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $163.82 and its 200-day moving average is $170.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 169.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $463,655,000 after buying an additional 1,607,009 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 42.4% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,175,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $575,546,000 after buying an additional 944,830 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 5,086.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 951,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,373,000 after buying an additional 932,687 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,609,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $291,691,000 after buying an additional 697,972 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $91,324,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.