MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Lowered to $225.00 at Barclays

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $256.00 to $225.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $257.33.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $201.37 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $227.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $246.99. MarketAxess has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. On average, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $71,103,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,079,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth $42,967,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.