MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Increases Dividend to $0.76 Per Share

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of 0.76 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74.

MarketAxess has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years. MarketAxess has a payout ratio of 35.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect MarketAxess to earn $9.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.4%.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $193.49 on Monday. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $188.88 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $220.83 and its 200-day moving average is $246.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (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 forecast that MarketAxess will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.