MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Sets New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $115.75 and last traded at $115.7720, with a volume of 296600 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $120.62.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Argus lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $190.88.

MarketAxess Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s 50-day moving average is $152.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.09. The company has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 151.0% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 8.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 3,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $406,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.