MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the thirteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $156.10.

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. William Blair lowered shares of MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $162.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85. MarketAxess has a one year low of $108.75 and a one year high of $195.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $128.44 and its 200-day moving average is $150.90.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 36.79%.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.