MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $130.96 and last traded at $131.23, with a volume of 696994 shares. The stock had previously closed at $137.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Argus lowered MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $190.88.

MarketAxess Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.09. The firm has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.17.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The firm had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 36.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 169.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 42.4% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 5,086.4% in the 4th 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 last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 76.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth approximately $91,324,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.