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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $255.44.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 495.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $212.94 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $206.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $237.71. MarketAxess has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. Research analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.82%.

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.