MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Raised to $335.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective boosted by UBS Group from $330.00 to $335.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

MKTX has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $263.40.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.1 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $274.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $270.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $233.69. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 2,428.6% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 405.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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.