MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) from a moderate buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on MKTX. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 price target (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Bank of America raised shares of MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $162.53 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock 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. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $108.75 and a 12-month high of $195.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $124.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.13.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $218.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 36.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors 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.