MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Receives $200.40 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $200.40.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Argus downgraded MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $42,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $174.63 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.68. The company has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.93. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $156.17 and a 12-month high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The business had revenue of $209.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.85%.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.