MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $130.96 and last traded at $131.23, with a volume of 696994 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $137.13.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Argus cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. UBS Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $190.88.

MarketAxess Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $160.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.58. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.92. 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 (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $939,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 7,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.