MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.74

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 6th, investing.com reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of 0.74 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

MarketAxess has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. MarketAxess has a dividend payout ratio of 37.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MarketAxess to earn $7.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.4%.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX opened at $235.20 on Tuesday. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $214.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $213.39. The firm has a market cap of $8.91 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.04. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The business had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.60.

About MarketAxess

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.