MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Hits New 1-Year Low at $192.42

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $192.42 and last traded at $194.05, with a volume of 415219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target on the stock. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $249.73.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $228.37.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,878,000 after acquiring an additional 564,820 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $128,535,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $363,508,000 after acquiring an additional 290,347 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,134,000 after purchasing an additional 204,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in MarketAxess by 7,385.0% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 159,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,733,000 after buying an additional 157,448 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.