MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $162.53. 805,739 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,300,674. MarketAxess has a 52-week low of $108.75 and a 52-week high of $195.96. The stock has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.83. 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’s 50-day moving average is $123.51 and its 200 day moving average is $151.44.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 36.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. William Blair cut MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.18.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. 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 purchasing an additional 944,830 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 169.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $463,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,607,009 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,609,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,691,000 after purchasing an additional 697,972 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in MarketAxess by 4.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,532,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $342,312,000 after buying an additional 67,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in MarketAxess by 5,086.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 951,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,373,000 after buying an additional 932,687 shares in the last quarter. 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.