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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $238.60.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $255.41 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $229.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.51, a P/E/G ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 1.07. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at $1,716,146.67. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 80.1% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 45,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,206,000 after purchasing an additional 20,056 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 202,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,229,000 after purchasing an additional 5,475 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 59,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,365,000 after purchasing an additional 7,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.