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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $266.89.

A number of analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays cut MarketAxess from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $246.00 to $291.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 6th.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total value of $442,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 70,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 146.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,265,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $270,422,000 after buying an additional 752,111 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 247.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 868,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,438,000 after buying an additional 618,533 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 18.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,928,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,537,253,000 after purchasing an additional 608,107 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $128,535,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 385.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 545,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,554,000 after purchasing an additional 433,217 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $217.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.98. MarketAxess has a 1-year low of $200.01 and a 1-year high of $399.78. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $227.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $237.75.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $197.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.70 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 34.29%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.21%.

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.