MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Raised to $265.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective upped by Piper Sandler from $235.00 to $265.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $249.80.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $276.43 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $249.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.89. MarketAxess has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.44 billion, a PE ratio of 39.83, a P/E/G ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The firm had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 42.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction of $142,915.71. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at $1,716,146.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2.9% during the second quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 5,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,126,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 0.7% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 4.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 47.4% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.