William Blair Analysts Decrease Earnings Estimates for MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) – Equities researchers at William Blair decreased their Q3 2024 EPS estimates for MarketAxess in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, May 7th. William Blair analyst J. Schmitt now expects that the financial services provider will earn $1.63 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.77. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for MarketAxess’ current full-year earnings is $7.28 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for MarketAxess’ Q1 2025 earnings at $2.13 EPS and Q3 2025 earnings at $1.82 EPS.

MKTX has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. 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 report on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $249.73.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX opened at $204.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $212.86 and its 200-day moving average is $234.52. MarketAxess has a 52-week low of $198.01 and a 52-week high of $303.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.29% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,526,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,325,563,000 after buying an additional 34,197 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2.0% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,705,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,462,000 after buying an additional 33,288 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in MarketAxess by 21.2% in 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 buying an additional 290,347 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,122,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $328,742,000 after acquiring an additional 4,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 40.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 70,092 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.21%.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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.