MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $170.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group cut shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday. Bank of America raised shares of MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 target price (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.18.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of MKTX opened at $162.28 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $120.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $151.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $108.75 and a 12-month high of $210.05. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 0.83.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The firm had revenue of $218.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 36.79%.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 10,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,219,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 215.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,033,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 58.6% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,218 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.