MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Increases Dividend to $0.76 Per Share

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of 0.76 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74.

MarketAxess has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% annually over the last three years. MarketAxess has a payout ratio of 32.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MarketAxess to earn $8.05 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 36.8%.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $201.44. 465,301 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 501,471. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $227.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $246.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. Research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $260.78.

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.