Zacks Research Weighs in on MarketAxess FY2024 Earnings

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) – Zacks Research upped their FY2024 EPS estimates for MarketAxess in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, November 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the financial services provider will post earnings of $7.33 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $7.01. The consensus estimate for MarketAxess’ current full-year earnings is $7.33 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for MarketAxess’ Q4 2024 earnings at $1.79 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.09 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.01 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.02 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.01 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.14 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.22 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.20 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.97 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Two 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 MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $260.97 on Friday. MarketAxess has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $273.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.04.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 405.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 47.4% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

About MarketAxess

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.