MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Sets New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $235.00 to $210.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. MarketAxess traded as low as $191.91 and last traded at $191.91, with a volume of 50922 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $196.20.

MKTX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,002,475,000 after buying an additional 90,805 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the 3rd 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. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,472,000 after purchasing an additional 30,180 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,113,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $251,106,000 after acquiring an additional 36,431 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $222.81 and a 200-day moving average of $246.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

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.