MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s What Happened

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $145.25 and last traded at $146.1050, with a volume of 37972 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $147.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $190.88.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.16, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $171.94.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The company had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 36.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 169.0% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $463,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607,009 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 42.4% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,175,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $575,546,000 after acquiring an additional 944,830 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 5,086.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 951,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,373,000 after acquiring an additional 932,687 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,609,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $291,691,000 after acquiring an additional 697,972 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth $91,324,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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.