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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $254.78.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price 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. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

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

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 4.0% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $384,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX opened at $193.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $246.02. MarketAxess has a 1-year low of $188.88 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.72%.

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.