Brokerages Set MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) PT at $264.60

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $264.60.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. Barclays dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $276.00 to $255.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 10.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,580,000 after buying an additional 170,095 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in MarketAxess by 0.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,042 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,447,000 after acquiring an additional 285,665 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.5 %

MKTX stock opened at $229.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $261.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.51. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Research analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.11%.

About MarketAxess

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.