MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $171.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 3.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $173.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.79. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.97. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $156.17 and a twelve month high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 29.14%.The firm had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.73 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a $0.78 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 45.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. 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 acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 992.9% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

About MarketAxess

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.