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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $156.10.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MKTX. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $167.00 price target (up from $150.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $134.00 target price (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, June 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, Director William Frank Jr. Cruger sold 6,164 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.20, for a total transaction of $1,005,964.80. Following the sale, the director owned 4,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,185.60. The trade was a 60.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 6,464 shares of company stock worth $1,050,069 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 10,925.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,816,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $546,665,000 after purchasing an additional 4,773,168 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter worth approximately $453,941,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $397,772,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 169.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $463,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 5,086.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 951,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,373,000 after purchasing an additional 932,687 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $163.00 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $145.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.79. MarketAxess has a 52 week low of $108.75 and a 52 week high of $195.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.79%.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates an electronic trading platform for institutional fixed-income markets. Through its technology, investors and dealers can trade corporate bonds, government securities, emerging-market debt and other credit products in an electronic environment designed to improve access, execution and transparency.

The company’s offerings include its Open Trading marketplace, which connects a broad network of institutional participants, as well as a range of trading protocols that support different liquidity and execution needs.