MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Cut to $305.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price target reduced by UBS Group from $330.00 to $305.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $257.33.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $201.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $227.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.99.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.72%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.